The Traitor of Konoha
by Urethane
Summary: Namikaze Naruto is neglected, but he's fine with that. His younger sister deserves the training since she's the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. Taking over Itachi's role, he slaughters the Uchiha clan and escapes the village in search of the Akatsuki, preparing to infiltrate it for the sake of his village. !GoodSasuke !ColdStrongNaruto !AkatsukiNaruto !JionguNaruto !Incest !BroConSis !FemHidan
1. A Plunge Into Darkness

_I think have a fetish for Naruto having an Akatsuki member as his sensei or just general Akatsuki Naruto. I'm pretty sure it's the cloak that got me hooked on them. _

_How can it be so plain, yet stylish at the same time?! Impossible!_

* * *

_**RRAAAAAAGHHHHH!**_

The Kyuubi roared, slamming its giant paws into the floor and crushing countless Konoha-nin. The ninja were afraid, yet, their indomitable spirit did not allow them to stop fighting, despite how little of a difference they were doing to the demon fox. The tails behind it flickered left and right, almost like a flame being blown in the wind, each capable of destroying mountains. But the Kyuubi wanted the people here to suffer and die slowly, a quick death was not going to be enjoyable for it.

Namikaze Minato had arrived on the scene after his wife had given birth to their second child, one they had named 'Natsumi'. Unfortunately for Minato, the time he had spent with his recently born child was cut short when the Kyuubi invaded. Approaching from nowhere, and seemingly in a trance of bloodlust, the Kyuubi had picked Konoha to be its personal stomping ground.

Quite literally, in fact seeing as how there were many prints in the ground in the shape of the Kyuubi's clawed paws.

The Yondaime Hokage stared in slight horror and awe at the beast before him, overshadowing the Hokage Mountain completely and reaching the night sky, eerily illuminated by the white glow of the moon and the red, burning wooden building of Konoha. The Kyuubi snarled viciously at the sight of the man who stood upon the stone head of the Shodaime Hokage: Senju Hashirama, or in the Kyuubi's eyes, the man who he had fought against when the fool Madara had tried to control him with his pathetic Doujutsu. It had taken the combined forces of both Madara and Hashirama to take down the Kyuubi, who quickly left due to the Senju's Mokuton, leaving the Senju and the Uchiha at each other's throats.

Remembering the man's face, he immediately charged up a Bijudama to wipe it off the face of the planet, intent on getting the last laugh at the Shodaime.

Minato had noticed the demon fox charge up its signature attack that it shared with its family. One he had based off to make his own jutsu, the _Rasengan._ One he wanted to teach to his children when they had grown older.

A 4 year old Naruto stared in awe as his father summoned the boss toad, Gamabunta, who was still slightly shorter than the Kyuubi due to his folded toad legs, and leapt straight at the Kyuubi who had charged up a black ball in his fang-filled maw. His father jumped off Gamabunta's head and touched the charging ball. Everything seemed to go into slow motion for the child. His father vanished as soon as contact was made with the ball and reappeared at the top of Gamabunta's head, this time without the ball. A large explosion signified the Bijudama going off in the distance and Naruto was slightly shocked, he had seen his father use the _Hirashin no Jutsu _multiple times, however, never ever seeing him teleport such a large object before.

A subconscious part in his brain that would develop in time shelved away the valuable information, just in case he needed that titbit of information to defeat his father when the time came.

Not that Naruto knew that it had happened seeing as he was just a 4 year old child and was amazed at the sight of a giant toad with the equally giant sword fighting the humongous fox with 9 tails. The Kyuubi screeched as the katana slammed into its side, racking his sharpened digits across Gamabunta's face and causing the Toad Boss to leap back. Luckily, only 1 of the fingernails had scratched Gamabunta, from above his eye brow, over to his upper lip, scarring his face with the proof that he had fought against the Kyuubi.

Kushina stumbled out of the hospital, clutching onto her new-born baby girl close to her. Sarutobi Hiruzen following close behind, the Sandaime was wearing his War Armour and holding onto Enma in his staff form. Kushina had tried to ignore the choices that Hiruzen supplied her, either allow him to use the Shiki Fūjin on Natsumi and sacrifice himself in the process or allow the Kyuubi to kill everyone including her son and new-born daughter. But when they had left the hospital and looked up, they stared at the sight of the Kyuubi and Gamabunta in a dead lock, Minato above shouting commands and firing jutsus that the demon easily shrugged off.

With no other choice to stop the Kyuubi, a weakened Kushina tearfully handed Hiruzen her baby, in preparation for the Shiki Fūjin.

* * *

One brave ANBU had _Shunshin'd _onto Gamabunta's head and next to Minato, both of which were still fighting against the Kyuubi and running on fumes. The ANBU informed Minato about what Hiruzen was about to do, sacrifice himself for the village and turning his daughter into the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, the only tailed beast without a Jinchuuriki yet. Minato had reluctantly agreed with Hiruzen as there was no other way to stop the Kyuubi. He only hoped that his daughter would not be ostracised from society just by carrying the demon fox in her.

Hiruzen slumped over, dying peacefully despite his soul being taken by the Shinigami, knowing that he had died to protect the village he loved and cared so much about. In front of him, a nude Natsumi was sleeping silently as the Kyuubi was sealed into her by the Shinigami while Kushina and Minato looked on from the side-lines.

The battle against the Kyuubi was over.

Lives were lost and buildings destroyed.

But Konoha had survived to see the light of tomorrow's day.

A frightened Naruto approached his mother and father after the sealing, shivering slightly when he had saw the Death God himself take the Kyuubi away and shove it into his baby sister's gut.

_Baby sister?_

_**!**_

Naruto rushed forwards to get a look at his baby sister, the same one that his mother and father were holding in their arms while the ANBU took Hiruzen's body away to bury him. Naruto paused, staring at his grandfather figure being taken away, a white sheet covering his fallen body. Naruto's face fell and he silently mourned the man who took care of him while his parents were busy, talking to him whenever he was alone at home or taking him around the village to eat ramen at Ichiraku.

It was quite obvious that Naruto was no ordinary child as he comprehended what other children his age could not. He understood that being a shinobi meant risking your life. You could turn the corner around the block and bump right into death itself, meeting your unfortunate end at any given moment. Since he understood this, he understood why his Jiji died and what he died for.

Taking a deep breath and remembering to grieve for his grandfather figure later, he approached his mother and father, who both turned with small sad smiles on their faces. Minato took Natsumi from Kushina's arms and brought the sleeping baby to Naruto to hold. Naruto accepted the bundled child, noticing the distinct markings on her face, 6 razor-thin lines on her cheeks, and 3 on each chubby cheek. A trait she shared with her brother, seeing as how they were both lived for nine months inside of their mother while she still had the Kyuubi inside of her.

Naruto bent down and kissed her on her head, causing the girl to open her tired eyes at her older brother. Light purple met bright blue and the baby's eyes widened at the sight of her older brother, stretching her tiny arms forwards at his face and giggling happily at the sight of him. A trail of drool slipped out from the corner of her lips as she gave him a toothless smile.

The sight of his baby sister smiling in the time of death and despair brought a sliver of light in the world that would soon be inhabited by darkness.

* * *

_**1 year after the Kyuubi attack.**_

Naruto was neglected, it had stung at first, but then he got used to it by shutting himself off from the world. He had chosen to improve his education tenfold by reading every single book in the library of his home and learning as much as he could. A baby Natsumi watched him through the crack of his door, only to find herself whisked away when mommy came by, telling her _'don't disturb your Onii-chan, he's tired'_.

If only she had decided to peek inside, she would've noticed that Naruto was busy reading burning his way through a mountain of books that had been stacked neatly at his desk.

* * *

_**2 years after the Kyuubi attack.**_

Naruto was abruptly torn from his dreams and awakened when he felt small hands pressing on his chest. Opening his eyes, he found a young Natsumi drooling with a happy look on her face, the same that she made when he first saw him.

"Naru!" Natsumi cried when seeing her older brother awake and fell back to sit onto his chest. Using her tiny fingers, she playfully pinched his cheeks lightly, stretching his own whisker marks out as if he were a docile cat, or in their case, fox.

"Hello there, Natsumi-chan." Naruto tried his best, yet he couldn't help but give a (small) smile at the sight of the child grinning widely when she heard him say her name.

"Natsu, sleepy." The girl mumbled as she rubbed her purple eyes with her tiny knuckles, yawning heavily before she slid to his left side on the bed and began leaning into her brother's side, absorbing his body heat. She gave him a small kiss on the nose before drifting off into her little dream where she and 'Naru' were picking flowers and, very uncharacteristically in his case, dancing to a happy song.

Naruto smirked at the sight of his baby sister snoring, returning a larger kiss to her forehead and hugging her tightly before he himself fell asleep with her in his arms.

* * *

_**3 years after the Kyuubi attack.**_

"Naru!" Natsumi ran up to Naruto as fast as her stubby legs could, and caught up to her big brother and hugging his leg to prevent him from walking.

"Good morning Natsumi, how are you?" Naruto leaned down, placing a hand on her head. Natsumi grinned, showing off her tiny teeth that enjoyed nipping Naruto's fingers for whatever reason. She looked up into his azure orbs, the same that her young mind had unknowingly fallen in love with.

Her father's eyes, despite being the same shade, were different, they always showed that he would be willing to help with anything that she needed help with, always full of pride and joy whenever he helped her accomplish something, thinking it was a big deal when the Hokage of all people helped a little girl do something that she couldn't do.

Naruto's was different as identical as they looked. His eyes said that he would help her only when she needed it, that he wouldn't be there to mentally hold her hand through everything. His eyes would show a hidden pride _at_ her for doing it herself if she never needed his help or were filled with understanding when she did require his help. And even then, he would only help her once and allow her to do it again herself afterwards, like the time he helped her ride her bike with just one try after she had fallen down countless times. _**  
**_

* * *

_**4 years after the Kyuubi attack. (Naruto: 8) (Natsumi: 4)**_

Naruto did not mind being neglected in order for his little sister to grow. He loved the little girl and she loved him back equally, if not more. His parent never had any time for him, choosing to spend it all with Natsumi or work, and he was fine with that.

He didn't have to like being ignored, but he accepted it.

Lavender eyes that shimmered with awe whenever she was in his presence, learned something new or when she ate ramen. Even as a little girl, he found her to be brash, loud and talkative, but all were good aspects since she didn't step into the territory of being arrogant. While she was brash, Naruto felt as if it were just a phase seeing as how she was used to spending time with the strongest of Konoha's forces. Being able to somehow brighten up a room whenever she entered it, making those who heard her constantly chirping-voice feel happier.

Her hair had grown to her shoulders. Straight, red and very lovely. Only with the addition of whiskers and the mischievous twinkle in her eyes did she stray from an identical appearance to her mother.

She looked absolutely adorable to him.

'_She looks a lot like mother nowadays'_ Naruto mused offhandedly as he watched his little sister throw a kunai, missing the bulls-eye by a mile. He gave a small smile to his sister as she pouted and folded her arms, direct an upset and sad look mixed together to form a heart-sundering look that brought adults of all kinds to their knees. He walked up to the pouting girl and kneeled down on one foot, his smile growing a little more when he rubbed her scalp that was covered by her crimson tresses.

Natsumi grinned inwardly when she saw her brother's smile increase in length. He always seemed to smile more around her, it seemed to the young kunoichi in training that he only enjoyed himself in her presence, something not even daddy or mommy could do.

As Naruto made his way over to her to teach her how to properly throw a kunai, he absently recounted the years and how far his training had progressed to as Natsumi grew older.

* * *

_Misunderstand loved his mother and father, to the point where he would die to protect them but he honestly wished they could separate the time they spent on work and Natsumi to at least include him into it. He was bored to death despite not showing it on the outside, having read the entire book collection in the Namikaze library and sneaking around at night to read the scrolls that his father thought he locked up well could only get so interesting after the first time._

_Regarding that last point, his mother and father were not the only seal masters in the house like they thought they were. __He secretly mastered the Rasengan his father was so fond of, even going as far as to manipulate his main elemental affinity, wind, which was something his parents did not know of either, into it __thus creating the 'Fuuton: Rasengan'. The feat was something not even his father never had the time to do ever since taking up the mantle of Hokage, juggling the rest of his time between his wife and daughter and occasionally to Naruto himself._

_Too bad he never understood how the Hirashin worked, or else he would have been a really, really annoying opponent to deal with._

_Still though, it didn't mean that he couldn't figure it out in the future. All he needed was an inhuman reaction time and the secret behind the seal to access the power. The idea of zipping and flashing about a battlefield in the blink of an eye, repeatedly, already gave him a headache, but he supposed that his father must have gotten used to it after years in development._

_His Taijutsu was on par with that of a high Chunin, not that he knew, considering that he kept the fact to himself and that no one had seen him practise it. He improved by reading up on the different Taijutsu styles that he had seen in the scrolls from the massive library and by watching a man with a strange attire who spewed the phrase 'the flames of youth burned brightly in you, Naruto-kun!' multiple times as he watched him training against his surrogate uncle, Kakashi._

_The boy was confused, but was undoubtedly impressed by the way Might Guy fought. Appearing to have a lack in either passion or ability to use __Ninjutsu, he focused more on Taijutsu and honed his skill to the sharpest point in memory of his late father, Might Duy, who was a Genin for most of his life, sacrificing himself to stall the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. Naruto was very impressed with the man and mentally vowed to visit Might Duy's grave to silently appreciate his sacrifice for his family. __Naruto was slightly sceptical when he heard the man claim that he was going to 'climb the Hokage Mountain 200 times with my teeth and then if I do not make it up in an hour, I will run 200 laps around Konoha's border' and then a little scared when he actually saw the man climb to the top of the Hokage Mountain 195 __times, crying to the heavens that he had failed his challenge and that he lacked the flames of youth before dashing away in the glorious afternoon sunset, not returning until the sun had revolved around the world twice._

_From that point forward, Naruto made sure he stayed away from the man to ensure that he was not dragged into the green wearing fit-freak's 'exercises'._

_Naruto's __Genjutsu was not as well as he had hoped it would be. He had enough control to break out of illusions, but not enough to place them under very powerful ones. He would have to ask the 'Queen of Smoke and Mirrors' Kurenai Yuhi for advice and lessons regarding Genjutsu._

_Kenjutsu was not something Naruto was quite interested in, however, understood the need for. Naruto was never close to the man, but perhaps Sarutobi Asuma would teach him how to use his trench knives the bearded smoker was so fond of._

_However, something Naruto was very interested in was the two very dangerous and powerful scrolls that he had found in the __Fuin no Sho, or the Scroll of Sealing, when he had been stricken by a sudden wave of ennui. He had entered the room while his father and personal guards left for a council meeting. He browsed through the scroll, looking at the list of all the Kinjutsu it held and found the ones he was most interested in._

_One was called 'Jiongu (Earth Grudge Fear)' and the other was Kage Bunshin (Shadow Clone). Both scroll contained the respective information of their Kinjutsu and was slightly appalled by how Jiongu worked. __He had read the hand written story from the Shodaime himself about how Takigakure had sent an assassin to kill him, the assassin failed and was instead destroyed by the Shodaime who demanded the Kinjutsu was a form of repayment for the assassination attempt. __Afraid of the man who was known as the God of Shinobi, they immediately handed it over and the Hokage kept it in the scroll from ever being used again._

_**'The Jiongu has to be strong if Takigakure was confident enough to send the assassin with it to kill the Shodaime of all people, the same man who had defeated and killed Uchiha Madara.' **__The Jiongu involved black threads painfully replacing your blood vessels and essentially being able to live forever by stealing the hearts of your enemies and allowing using their elemental affinities for your own. It also allowed the user to reattach limbs and send out the same threads that inhabited the body, making them into whips and spears that could easily rip through limbs. Or so it was said. It was merely what the Shodaime had observed from the battle with the assassin. The first part wasn't something Hashirama could confirm, but from the way his assassin's body was inhabited by those wires, it must have been the case._

_The Kage Bunshin seemed useful, but he doubted that he had enough chakra to use it that many times in battle. Maybe it could be useful for his sister he thought, seeing as how she had a creature made entirely out of chakra in her. He wasn't sure, he'd have to make sure first, the last thing he wanted to see was his sister dying while she attempted it. And with that, Naruto memorised the Kage Bunshin, quickly replacing the scroll while ensuring nothing was out of place before fleeing for home._

_He never used them, instead, stored them in his room, underneath the floorboard where he had placed a storage seal to keep useful materials. After all, who was going to notice that two Kinjutsu's were missing when the scroll itself held at least a hundred more?_

_Silent son of the Yondaime by day, A child prodigy of the ninja arts by night, far surpassing his senior by one year, Itachi, tremendously. But he had learnt that deception would be the most important tool in his life, pretending only to be one of the better students at the academy and nothing more._

_The mask fooled everyone. And Naruto preferred to keep it that way. He saw no need to boast about his abilities, nor his strength like most other shinobi did. Just like a true ninja, he hid most of himself in the shadows, away from prying eyes. Were Konoha to be attacked, then he could use his apparent lack of skills to take down foes that saw fit to underestimate him. All that mattered to him was that Konoha and his family was fine and safe from harm._

Snapping out of his thoughts, Naruto stood up with one of the blunt-edged kunai he had picked up off the floor and got into a throwing position.

"Come Natsumi-chan, watch my movements and stances, then you try, okay?"

"Yay! Naru-nii is best! Can we get Sasuke-baka later and then I can show him my super cool throwing skills I learned for you!" The idea of riling her best friend up by upstaging him was something Natsumi savoured. Seeing the dumbfounded look as she beat him, an Uchiha in something, was incredibly satisfying. "He'll be so jealous!"

"Alright Natsumi-chan," He patted her on the head affectionately, "We'll go make Sasuke jealous." Naruto said as he ruffled her hair, causing the girl to laugh at the mess he was making of her hair.

* * *

_**8 years after the Kyuubi attack.**_

Natsumi had taken the fact that she held a demon fox in herself quite well. She only freaked out due to her age and panicked, almost going into shock and fainting.

_Yeah… pretty well overall._

It took Naruto's embrace to slowly calm her down, something that she had gotten addicted to over the years. Thunderstorms, that spider that jumped out from under the toilet seat and even Jiraiya had scared the life out of the girl when he had been first introduced upon his return to Konoha. And the only way she got comfort was by running to her Naru-nii's room and diving under the covers and snuggling with him if he was asleep or, secretly, taking in his scent by sniffing his worn shirts that had his intoxicating musk.

Perhaps her godfather had influenced her a little too much with his smutty books and general perverseness.

Still, the scent of her older brother let her calm down and unwillingly, she parted with the shirt that was still connected to his body and left his embrace to continue speaking to their parents.

"So… I'm not a demon girl?" Natsumi asked her parents, who had told her that they were two absolutely separate entities. But if her brother had disagreed and called her a demon child, telling her to never speak to him again and leaving her presence, she was very sure she would have shattered emotionally immediately and broken down. Luckily, all she received from her brother aside from the loving hug was a soft chop to the forehead and a soft _'__idiot__'_ before he had walked away.

When she was sure he had left the house to take his Jonin exams, she quickly sneaked back into his room and grabbed the t-shirt he had slung onto his chair, dashing back into her own room and dived right into her bed and under the covers, sniffing the shirt heavily _(and rather creepily)_ as a happy and dazed look appeared on her face.

Luckily, the only person she had confided in was her best friend, Sasuke, who also thought of Naruto as his other older brother, who was pretty surprised that she was heavily crushing on her older brother, more than just sibling love. But he seemed to have understood and agreed to keep it a secret until she either grew out of loving him in that way or she found someone else.

_"I love you… Na__ru__-nii." _She whispered in a heavy exhale, her cheeks stained red.

She had not yet discovered the wonders of self-pleasure, and when she did… well, _a lot_ of Naruto's clothing went missing. Much to Sasuke's chagrin. He seriously didn't need to know what Natsumi did to her brother's clothings during her downtime.

* * *

_**12 years after the Kyuubi attack. (Naruto: 16) (Natsumi: 12)**_

A 16 year old Naruto stared at the scrolls in his hands, the two that he had kept hidden in his room for the past 8 years. His best friend, Uchiha Itachi, had told him about the coup, that the Uchiha Clan was going to be slaughtered tonight and that he would be running away, going undercover and joining a newly formed S-Rank criminal organisation: Akatsuki to inform Konoha about what they were going to be doing.

Naruto did not want Itachi to be considered a traitor to the village he was protecting undercover.

Itachi had been one of the few people who had bothered to become friends with Naruto after seeing him alone during his sister's birthday party. They had quickly become best friends and would confide each other in their deepest secrets. This friendship was made of iron and would not be shattering any time soon.

Killing your clan for fun was one thing while being chased out for stopping them from igniting the Fourth Shinobi War was another. And Itachi carrying the burden of killing his own family and being blamed for it was not something he would allow. Itachi was a person of virtue and Naruto couldn't just allow himself to let Itachi act out the task of slaying his own kinsmen just because of the revolt **they** wanted to start.

He would _**not**_accept that. It was just unfair. And to prevent Itachi from turning traitor and saving the Leaf at the same time, Naruto decided the path he would take for the future of himself, his village and even potentially the world. Thousands of innocent lives would not perish in an unnecessary war but at the price of a disgruntled and unhappy clan.

He would be the one to stop the Uchiha Clan instead of his first outside friend, turning himself into a missing-nin and to see if he could infiltrate Akatsuki.

With that in his mind, he quickly set himself to work at writing a letter to whomever found it, stating that he was the one who had slaughtered the whole clan and that he had no regrets doing so, it had torn his cold heart apart writing about the fact that he hated everyone, but he had to suck it up and act like he meant it to fool his village into thinking that he had killed the Uchiha's just to show off his power.

The secret that the Uchiha would never get out that way, and it was for the best. Itachi and Mikoto would teach Sasuke how to overcome the Curse of Hatred his clan had, but the problem lay in Natsumi, who he feared would go into a state of depression and eventually suicide. He wouldn't mind if his sister killed him in a fit of rage at what he said

He unfurled the Kinjutsu that he had kept throughout the years, the _Jiongu_. He channelled chakra into the silencing seal behind his door and took a deep breath before he placed the tanto into his mouth and bit down hard onto the tough handle, activating the scroll at the same time.

_'__Oh god__.'_ He told himself as black threads shot out and dug itself deep into his wrists and feet, inciting his blood to spill as they tunnelled through his entire body, replacing capillaries, veins and arteries. Naruto wasn't even sure if he still had blood after all of it. Perhaps some, but definitely very little of it.

**"AAAAAAAAAAGGGGGRRRRRRRHHHHHHHHHHHH."**Naruto screamed loudly, his tanto preventing his teeth from grinding against each other. His eyes were pouring tears at the feeling of sharp needles coursing through his body. Unable to stand as the burning agony travelled to his legs Naruto dropped to the floor, a silent scream etched on his face while his eyes were clenched shut, fingers digging deeply into the carpeted floor.

**"FU-AAAARGGHHHHH-CK! RRRGGGGHHH!"** The unbelievable pain was almost sending his body into shock, but suddenly, as fast as it came, the pain immediately left. Rasping and gasping, Naruto panted heavily, clawing his way to his wardrobe, he slowly propped himself up against the wall and slowly began putting on his armour, feeling the occasional twitch beneath his skin which told him the Jiongu was still getting used to his body.

After donning his Tokubetsu Jonin armour on and brandishing his tanto, he slowly walked into Natsumi's room and watched as she lay in her bed, sleeping with a pair of his boxers in her hands and a perverted look on her face. He rolled his eyes at her perverseness and set the scroll for Kage Bunshin on the table as a parting gift, placing a soft kiss on her head that made her moan out his name sensually, causing the older brother to frown.

He hated hurting his little sister. But it had to be done. He would have to hurt everyone to show them his love.

He leapt out of his open window at the crack of dusk, exactly one day before the extermination of the Uchiha would take place. Unable to look back at his home lest he give up his mission in fear, he thought silently to himself as he approached the Uchiha Compound.

_'I'm sorry, Natsumi, Sasuke. I can only hope that you understand and forgive your onii-chan when you grow older when you learn of the truth.'_

* * *

Landing on the rooftop of the silent Uchiha Compound, Naruto's eyes scanned the area, darting from left to right quickly. The sight of a man not too far ahead of him made his hand tighten around his tanto and he started off by jumping up high into the air, his shadow was cast onto the ground from the bright, white moon behind him. He brought his tanto in front of him, crashing onto the guard and knocking the man to the ground while driving the small blade into the back of his skull silently.

The guard didn't even get a chance to struggle. He gave a quiet '_Urk!' _before he died, his brain shutting down after having a blade driven right through it. Naruto silently pulled his short sword out and held it to his side before he felt strange.

The feeling he had read about in the scroll began to start, the wriggle of the Jiongu's threads trying to escape began to tickle a little. He stared silently as a few threads ripped themselves out of his forearm painlessly before stabbing the man in the chest and cleanly severing off the arteries that surrounded the heart, picking it up gently despite its dangerous appearance and began to tear off the armour on his back, sewing and attaching it there, out in the open. It was grotesque and very, very unappealing but Naruto had made his bed and now he had to lay in it. There was no going back from this.

He frowned; he would have to use something to cover up the hearts if he was going to have them stuck to his back.

Suddenly, a jutsu popped into his head.

_'Katon: Zukokku (Fire Release: Intelligent Hard Work).'_

Strange, Naruto thought, the scroll never said anything about Jutsu. Only that the assassin had boastfully told the Shodaime that he could live forever as long as he replaced the hearts and could use the whips as weapons. He assumed that the Shodaime never used it on anyone but only wrote down what the assassin said. Takigakure had never supplied any information about the Kinjutsu either, so Naruto was really learning on the fly.

He would have to be careful as his hearts were exposed, from the front and the back, making him an easy target. Luckily, he had the cover of night and the fact that most of the clan was sleeping to tide the situation into his favour.

Naruto spent at least an hour, killing with extreme prejudice, slaying adults, elderly and even children in their sleep. Killing the children had hurt the most because they were the same age as Natsumi and he could not imagine what would happen were he to find his baby sister's throat slit early in the morning. But he completed his task anyway. Killing them without even allowing them to awaken. The young ones all died peacefully, not even realising that they would never wake up from their eternal slumber.

And the blood. Oh god, the blood. By the end of it all, Naruto's clothes and skin were covered with splatters of blood from those who had been awake at the time of the massacre. There was so much of it. Naruto had killed before, undoubtedly so. But he had never taken an innocent life before. And tonight, while he had taken many lives that had been twisted by hatred, so much of it had been innocent as well. But he had no time to spare to dwell about how depressing the situation was for he had to leave.

He did spare some however, with the exception of Itachi, Sasuke and Mikoto, the whole of the Uchiha clan was completely annihilated and wiped out, their eyes destroyed on the spot to prevent people like Danzo, who his father had warned him about, from ever using them for his own private army that was somehow still in circulation despite Minato's multiple attempts at shutting it down. He had killed a surprised Fugaku in the living room while Mikoto was asleep in their bedroom. He never entered Itachi and Sasuke's room, knowing that he would immediately wake up and attack Naruto on instinct.

The blood-soaked blonde silently prayed that Sasuke would be nurtured well under his mother and brother's loving care to stop the bloodline of hatred in the Uchiha's, one that Fugaku was filled with.

* * *

_**The Next Morning.**_

The village was in chaos. The three remaining Uchiha's had awoken to find that their entire clan had been slaughtered in their sleep by an unknown assailant. Itachi's eyes widened, realising that the massacre had happened one day earlier than expected. Mikoto (who had anticipated the deaths) and Sasuke were wailing at the loss of their entire family linage.

Awakened by their loud cries, the villagers and shinobi went to check it out, only to be horrified. The sight of a hundred dead Uchiha's shrouded by white cloths were taken out in public. Tsunade, who had stayed in Konoha, shook her head at the sight of the smaller bodies. Someone was smart enough and informed that the Uchiha's were about to revolt, and had cleverly killed them while destroying the eyes in the process. She knew they were destroyed as they were still in the sockets, except each seemed to have a senbon been lodged in it to effectively disable the use of it.

She hoped that the eyes were destroyed last after they had died instead of before.

Minato had gone to Naruto's room after seeing the aftermath of the Uchiha massacre to find it in a mess. A silencing seal had been slapped against the wall to ensure that no sound in the room got out. The table, clothes and the wardrobe was all on the floor and a sea of books and throwing weapons had been scattered across the floor. The walls faired not much better, covered in whip markings that slashed the walls deeply. Not to mention how much blood there was.

Minato had immediately panicked at the idea of his son being attacked in his sleep, only to see that an out of place note had been placed in the middle of his empty bed. Hesitantly opening the note, he had expected a ransom from the attacker seeing as Naruto was the son of the Yondaime.

He had not expected it to have been from Naruto himself.

* * *

_Goodbye Father and Mother. _

_If I can even call you that._

_Too long I have been left behind in the dust and shadow of my little sister. All because of you. You don't deserve to be called these titles. Real parents wouldn't have allowed this to happen._

_So I have left, taking the heads of the Uchiha with me. But don't worry. I have spared some of them, with them being my best friend, his little brother and their mother. Imagine that. One of the great founding clans of Konoha, now reduced to a measly headcount of three. But with the power I now hold, nothing is out of grasp for me._

_You might be wondering why I have left them alive. It's simple. I want them to hate me. I want them to come and try their best to kill me, to grow stronger with their hatred of me, and when it's all said and done, I will crush them. I will show you just how far I have come without you to teach me. I will show you just how strong I can and will be._

_Remember. This is all your fault._

_Naruto._

* * *

_The clattering of the scroll as it fell to the ground, rolling away from the stunned Minato was the only sound that came from reading the scroll. Minato was too busy reeling in shock to even make a sound._

_If he was already reacting in this manner, Natsumi was going to get a heart attack halfway through the letter._

* * *

Hello. Urethane here, from the future. Just rewrote the first chapter on 24/5/ because holy shit was my writing pure cringe. Anyway, the other chapters may be rewritten in time. But for now, please endure the cringe of a newbie writer until the future chapters.


	2. Red Hands

_AN: Okay, a few of you might not have understood why I wrote Naruto writing that he hated Natsumi._

_He needed a reason to leave the village, and the reason was he say that he was neglected and hated Natsumi for being pampered, and thus the villagers think that in a jealousy induced rampage, he killed the Uchiha Clan to show off what the village lost (Which was an excuse to stop the coup from taking place)._

_So yeah, thats why he wrote down why he hated Natsumi and hoped she didn't commit suicide after reading it._

* * *

_Contributions and Ideas (don't hesistate to review and give ideas for how he can use Jiongu, I don't mind listening to your stuff): Lord Kyuubi Yoko._

_LKY's idea is to basically have more than 4 hearts for him to use as the nine masked beasts in the Road to Ninja, it would basically give the Akatsuki a reason to recruit him. This of course will be 'nerfed' by having a rather decently long cool down to stop abusing it._

* * *

Note, the next few chapters will be sort of fillers on what Naruto does in the Akatsuki. He replaces both Itachi and Kakuzu (since he's dead), taking on the role of treasurer and hunting Jinchuuriki's (but he doesn't know that yet). Daring and brave people will be attempting to claim the bounty on Naruto.

_**I MUST STRESS THIS SINCE PEOPLE HAVE THIS FUCKING SHITTY HABIT AT NOT READING, SO I'M USING BOLD TO BLIND YOU.**_

**OBITO IS DEAD, AND HE'S STAYING DEAD. NO ONE SURVIVES GETTING HALF THEIR FUCKING SKULL CRUSHED BY A BOULDER. BRAIN = MUSH.**

**BUT THE GOAL OF AKATSUKI IS TO COLLECT BIJUU AND DESTROY PRETTY MUCH EVERYTHING FOR PEACE.**

**GUESS WHAT. MADARA'S DEAD TOO AND AKATSUKI WILL ACTUALLY POSE AS A THREAT TO PEOPLE.**

**JINCHUURIKI'S WILL ALSO BE HARDER TO KILL AND WHAT NOT. SEEING ROSHI GET HIS ASS HANDED TO HIM BY KISAME ALONE WAS PRETTY FUCKING PATHETIC, EVEN WITH SAMEHADA, SO THEY'LL ACTUALLY PUT UP A FIGHT THIS TIME.**

_Please choose either Akatsuki Member to be with Naruto, give a reason if you're not a lazy bastard._

_**Hidan or Kisame**__._

_There will be another character with a Kekkei Genkai to replace the missing member or you could give a suggestion who replaces the missing Akatsuki Member._

_Next few chapters will be_

_ S._

* * *

_The soft pitter-patter of a child's feet could be heard against the hardwood floor. Tiny legs tiptoed as best as they could; in an attempt to get maximum height in an effort to reach the doorknob. One small hop later and small hands managed to grab the knob that easily towered over the red-haired child._

_The girl twisted her arms while hanging on the knob a good inch off the floor, allowing her access into the pitch black room. Light flooded the room and without any form of hesitation, the girl ran into the slight-darkness with her hands out stretched, an attempt to grab anything she could come in contact with. From the murky darkness where the child could only see the outlines of her own hands and the objects that were in front of her, she heard the bed squeak and turned on her heel to face the sound. Out of the blue, larger arms softly grabbed the child around the waist and lifted her up, eliciting excited squeals and giggles from the gleeful child._

_She hugged the owner of the arms and looked into his face that was slightly obscured by darkness. "Nato-nii! Kiss! Kiss!" She playfully demanded with her arms crossed and her lips puckered, from the figure, now identified as her elder brother._

_"Sorry Natsumi-chan, maybe when you're older." It blurted out of his mouth. He paused and realised how wrong that sounded. It was as if he wanted her to be more 'mature' before she could get a kiss on the lips. He stood frozen, imagining an older, curvier Natsumi in his arms._

_Her crimson hair suddenly grew longer and touched her perfectly-sized waist, her bust went from budding to bulging, flat bottom expanding and turning rounder with every second passing. Flawless, porcelain skin seemed to shine in the darkness of the room. Her purple eyes sparkled with playfulness and a hint of lust._

_He gulped loudly as she leaned in to the side of his ear._

_Her voice was soft and silky and seemed to rub nicely against his eardrums, making his breath hitch. "Neh, are you sure you don't want to kiss me," she licked her pink and full lips sensually._

_"I'll bet you want me, don't you?" She giggled, "**Na-ru-to**." Each syllable that rolled off of her pink tongue made his pants that much tighter, why was his baby sister such a tease?_

_Wait- what?_

_He blinked, a baby Natsumi stared back at him in his arms._

_"Nato-nii?" Her face was scrunched up in confusion when her brother paused and started breathing weird. 'Oh no.' Naruto choked on his saliva, did he just get turned on by an older version of his sister?_

_He felt his hard cock pushing against his pants attempting to escape captivity and trying to breathe fresh air, and maybe get a taste of Natsumi while it was out._

_'Bad thoughts!' He blushed at the idea of an older Natsumi bent over on his table as he slammed into her hard, soft cute squeaks coming from her mouth as she cried out in ecstasy at having her Nato-nii inside of her, taking up all her space as he pumped in and out of her._

_Making her his._

_His eye twitched and he slowly placed Natsumi on the ground, kissing her forehead gently._

_"There," He smiled painfully; one of his hands holding the monster in his pants back from attacking Natsumi-chan, "A kiss." Natsumi pouted, clearly upset that it wasn't placed on her lips, but she accepted it, her pout turning into a large grin._

_"Don't worry Nato-nii! When I grow up, you'll be mine forever when we get married!" She beamed at her older brother who simply gave her a small smile. Even in the darkness, she could easily see it as it radiated a happiness he only gave her._

_"I'd like that Natsumi-chan… I'd like that a lot."_

* * *

Minato was right, how very right.

Natsumi did not take her Nato-nii killing her best friend's clan and leaving the village as a missing-nin too well and Minato had, painfully, listed down his son on the Bingo Book as an S-Rank missing-nin.

* * *

_Name: Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto_

_Relatives: Namikaze Minato, Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Uzumaki Natsumi._

_Age: 16._

_Appearance: Blonde hair, bright blue eyes, medium body-size with lean muscles, Last seen wearing Konoha jonin armour._

_Village: Konohagakure_

_Nickname: 'Kinpatsu Uragirimono (Golden Haired Betrayer)' __**(AN: COULD NOT COME UP WITH A COOL NICKNAME.)**_

_Ranking: Unknown, presumed to be S-Rank._

_Abilities: Unknown._

_Note: able to kill every single Uchiha clan member with the exception of Uchiha Itachi, Sasuke and Mikoto. Leaving them alive only for the brothers to try and attempt revenge. In possession of a very, **very**, dangerous Kinjutsu, allowing the user to manipulate black threads in their body to detach limbs. The threads can also be used as weapons._

_Threat level: Incredibly Dangerous._

_Konoha_  
_Alive **only**: 50,000,000 ryo._

* * *

Natsumi sat in her chair, purple eyes bloodshot and puffy, her sobs finally ending after a full hour of hearing the news and reading the note her brother left behind.

She knew he was lying.

There was no way he hated her.

The look in his eyes every time he saw her was not something you could command on will. It was pure, unadulterated love. He even gave her a Kinjutsu for god's sake, he knew that she was able to use the Kage Bunshin because of the Kyuubi and the amount of chakra she had far surpassed her daddy and mommy combined and even stole the Kinjutsu for her.

She also knew he was lying when he said he was in search of power. Her Nato-nii was already stronger than most of the village, ascending even over Itachi, the Uchiha prodigy, himself. For some strange reason, she could just feel his power, radiating off him like a majestic carpet. An invisible power that always made her heart flutter whenever he smiled a genuine smile at her.

Her Nato-nii was not wearing a mask of love. He truly did love her.

She wiped her stained cheeks, eyes hardened with determined and mind steeled. She had found a goal, a goal that far surpassed the dream of becoming the next Hokage.

Fuck the Hokage's position.

She was going to kick her Nato-nii's ass and bring him home.

Jumping off her bed, she immediately went to go find Sasuke-baka to cheer him up, and maybe convince him that Nato-nii was lying and they had to get him back home by working harder.

* * *

Uchiha Sasuke was in disbelief, he stared out of his room window as the wind blew in, ruffling his duck-butt hair softly. The streets of the Uchiha Compound were empty and silent, usually filled with a few families taking an evening stroll, now but a desolate ghost town with the population of 3.

The teen (12) the very same predicament as Natsumi, he too, had cried his eyes sore when he had seen the state of his whole clan, even worse when he found out it was Naruto-Aniki who had did the horrifying deed. He had felt betrayed, hurt, devastated that Naruto would have done such a deed to the people that he considered family.

He wondered why Naruto had spared him, his mother and brother. Was he forcing him to go through psychological trauma? He never noticed Itachi walking up behind him and placing a reassuring hand on top of his head, running his larger hands through Sasuke's duck-butt shaped hair.

"Understand, Sasuke, that Naruto must have had his reasons." Itachi calmly said. He had not believed that Naruto had taken on the burden that was supposed to be his, playing the role of a traitor who wanted nothing more than to show off his power when in fact, he really did it to save his friend.

He was thankful that he had spared his mother and brother, and even his mother had understood why Naruto did what he did. She was never a fan of taking part in the coup, disagreeing with Fugaku completely, knowing that it would lead to unnecessary death, and it had. She too, was grateful that Naruto had spared her and her baby boys and silently promised to nurture Sasuke with love to prevent him from straying down the path Fugaku took; the Curse of Hatred would not be able to sink its hypothetical fangs into her youngest child. The weasel was even more thankful that Naruto had cleverly disabled the use of the eyes after he had put the members to sleep, knowing that if Danzo got his hands on them, he would personally implant them into his emotionless soldiers.

"What reason does he have for killing our clan?!" Sasuke demanded, upset that Itachi was siding with his Aniki that had eliminated all of their relatives over a single night.

"Tell me Sasuke, if father, or anyone else for that matter were to kill or hurt Natsumi-chan in _different ways_… how would you feel?" Itachi gazed stoically into his brother's black eyes, knowing that he was treading on very thin ice, bordering on basically telling his brother the truth about the clan. But he had to hint it in a way he knew Sasuke would agree that the demise of the clan was a good thing.

_**!**_

"W-What do yo-you mean_ ki-kill _Natsumi-c-chan?" Sasuke's face seemed to have been drained of blood as he imagined his best friend/surrogate sister dead at his father's feet, completely horrified that his brother would even say such a thing, "Wh-why would tou-san want to hurt Natsumi-chan or hurt her?!" He demanded.

He knew Itachi was hinting at something, his elder brother never said something if it needn't be said.

"All things are done with reason, little brother. Even the most insane of things are."

Saying nothing more, Itachi silently stood up and left the room, giving one last gaze to the stunned and confused Sasuke as he left the room.

* * *

Uzumaki Kushina stared blankly at her hands. She was in a slump and all out of tears to shed, previously crying with her sobbing daughter in her arms.

She had painstakingly cleaned up her baby boy's room; each item had hurt her heart. Each item a reminder of what she never took care of, a reminder of what a failure of a mother she was. Her son had turned traitor and killed all of her best friend's clan, leaving only her and her sons alive, and she was the root cause of it.

Naruto had said that he hated them all, Natsumi especially. And it was all Minato and her fault. If they had never pampered her baby girl so much and actually spent time with their first child, who she essentially forgot about, Naruto would never have lusted for attention, going as far as to nearly eradicate one of the Noble Clans of Konoha and presumably the most powerful to make himself known to his _parents _of all people.

The slaughter had basically said, 'hey, remember me? The son you never cared about?' Yeah, now she remembered. But it was far too late.

She was disgusted in herself. And worried that if her son came back looking for revenge, she might not be able to put him down, knowing that she was the direct cause of his behaviour.

'_Perhaps it would be fair,_' Kushina thought at the idea of dying to her eldest child to appease his insatiable rage, _'I can only hope he spares Natsumi-chan. It was all our fault, not hers.'_

Slowly turning her head right, she gazed at her husband who was choking back tears as he wrote down the Bingo Book listing, his nose was dripping and his face was contorted to that of self-disgust.

Snivelling his mucus back into his nose loudly, Minato clenched his teeth, knowing that he had fucked up, big time. That was obvious from the fact that he was writing down his own _son's name_ in the Bingo Book and allowing people to capture him alive, however, he himself knew that Naruto was capable of stopping even Itachi himself, even without the Kinjutsu he stole.

They knew that he had used it because Tsunade had reported that one of the Uchiha had their heart cleanly removed and seeing as one of the effects of the Jiongu was to steal hearts to extend the users life and use powerful jutsus from said stolen hearts, it was quite obvious that he had activated it.

Their only choice now would either be to kill him or sentence him to jail for the rest of his life without parole, dying alone in a cell. He would be allowed visitors; Natsumi would definitely want to visit him, along with Sasuke and Itachi. But he wasn't sure if Natsumi and Sasuke might still see him as Naruto. He knew Itachi would still be his friend because he had originally assigned Itachi to eliminate the Uchiha's. His son had saved him a lot of headache from the blow back of the Uchiha Massacre, although it did cost him his son in return.

Not exactly the best of trades.

_Yeah, no._

Even if it wasn't on purpose, Naruto had at least done something for Minato by pinning the blame on himself, more than Minato could say for himself when talking about his son.

He never brought him out of the house, he constantly forgot his birthday, and he even forgot that Naruto wasn't even a genin anymore.

When he had sent Naruto(10) to take the Chunin exams, he had been skimming over the letters and signing their team to be sent to Suna instantly. Something a Hokage was_ not_ supposed to do. When Naruto had graduated, he was so caught up in thinking about Natsumi's gift for her birthday he quickly handed out the chunin vests in his office, not noticing the look of pain, disbelief and dejectedness that flashed across his face in a second before Minato dismissed them and flashed back home.

Only little Natsumi(6) had remembered it. When Naruto came home with the chunin vest slung over his shoulder, she went to his room and congratulated him, giving him a peck on the cheek for passing. She had giggled happily when she noticed a small blush on his face, completely flustered and silently happy that his baby sister had remembered him passing the exams.

Then afterwards Naruto had become a jonin after finishing the Jonin exams, more specifically, applied to become a Tokubetsu jonin to have more free time to train. Had he turned jonin, he would have had less time for himself and Natsumi, spending most of it with genins who were 4 years younger than him.

Natsumi had a, what he called, jealous streak. Naruto was the most handsome male in Konoha behind his father. However, his cold exterior only seemed to have driven girls crazier, something he and Natsumi shared a mutual dislike for. Girls were only deterred when they saw Natsumi silently growling at them when her brother was looking away, scaring them off of _her_ Nato-nii.

He was _hers_ and _nobody else's_.

Anyways, the point was that Minato had missed his son's graduations, both of them. Snapping his fingers, the ANBU that guarded the Hokage's room, something they had put into effect ever since Naruto had stolen the Kinjutsu since who knows when, fell to the ground, already kneeling before their leader before they even touched the ground.

"Get Kakashi, try to track down Naruto and subdue him, if not…" Minato's face showed that he had swallowed something bitter, "Permission to use lethal force…" He breathed out deeply, hoping that it was possible to take down his son without hassle.

_"Granted."_

* * *

Naruto frowned, staring at the hands at used to be dripping with Uchiha blood. He dipped his arms into the water and washed his hands in the lake again, violently scrubbing off the blood only visible to him.

He did not sign up for a guilt trip.

The blood of the innocent Uchiha's had stained his imagination by appearing randomly.

'No,' he shook his head violently, eye narrowed as he argued with himself, 'They were going to start another war, probably use mother and Natsumi-chan as their breeding stock, raping them until they reached their death beds.' Which sick shinobi wouldn't? His mother and sister was beautiful, men liked beautiful things and with no one to stop them, who would?

Breaking out of his small little stupor, he looked back at his wet, but clean, hands. His armour was ruined, what with the front and back completely missing. The single heart were still exposed, slightly worrying the Namikaze as the scroll had not said anything about infections and how it would affect the hearts if they were simply left in the open air. He would have to find something tough and small to cover them with. He hadn't had much time to experiment with it either, seeing as he had burned most of the night as cover to escape from Konoha. He would deal with that later.

There were a few small problems though.

One, He had no idea how to contact or even ask to join Akatsuki. He assumed it was an invitation-only organisation, seeing as how Itachi said they were only S-Rank missing-nins in it. One way to get known fast in the elemental nations was to do something incredibly fucked up.

Slaughtering the Uchiha Clan was something that showed off his power and it was a pretty atrocious sight, rumours would spread and, he wouldn't be surprised if his father had already listed him down as a missing-nin. He didn't resent the man, Minato did it out of love for his village, listing him down as a possibly insane threat and Naruto would understand. He had committed the genocide of the Uchiha for his village and Itachi.

All threats had to be exterminated, that he understood.

Two, he was unsure how to communicate with someone from Konoha who knew he was playing the role of a missing-nin to infiltrate Akatsuki. Surely Itachi would not have any idea, and even then, he could not communicate with his older brother. Security in Konoha would most likely be tight and the chances of entering Konoha silently were little to none.

He rubbed a finger at the gap between his nose and his lips. Perhaps Jiraiya could help him, provided Naruto could find the perverted toad sage. Last he remembered the man had stopped over for a visit, hit on his godmother, Tsunade, and tried to peek in on Kushina during her shower, ran away from an enraged Minato and a furious, towelled Kushina before saying that he needed to maintain his spy network, leaving via window.

A hectic afternoon, he recalled.

He assumed he had to go do things to gain attention for himself, he needed new clothes without freaking anyone out either, what with his stitches and silently-beating hearts on his back. He grimaced at his reflection, the sight of his body making him cringe.

He hoped his sister would not hate and shun him for how he looked, which basically was Frankenstein's monster. Naruto stood up from the flat stone he used as a chair, leaving the clearing that held a small river.

He figured he'd better learn how to use the Jiongu soon, the chances of him facing enemies were high and if father had placed his name down on the Bingo Book, there were going to be a lot of people to deal with, especially Konoha-nin. However, he'd try his best to leave them (Konoha-nin) alive. His hands were already stained with the blood of innocents from the Uchiha clan.

Making up his mental check list, he set off to complete his task, unaware that Konoha ANBU were soon nearing his location.

* * *

Kakashi breathed in and out, an upset frown on his masked face, easily visible through the black fabric. He had always thought of Naruto as a little brother, quiet and cold, but still a brother nonetheless. Naruto had always been alone or chose to be a loner, his only friend that the grey haired ninja could pull from the top of his head was Itachi, and then Naruto actually seemed to like Itachi as a friend.

He had been assigned to use lethal force on Naruto if he retaliated violently against the ANBU by a puffy eyed Yondaime.

Of course, Kakashi had no idea that the Uchiha Coup was being staged and that they were eventually going to be killed, but Itachi had been called into a private meeting between the stoic teen and the Village Elders and Minato-sensei.

They _probably_ wanted to speak about the CRA and how he was the last of his kind, along with his brother. Kakashi knew that Itachi would twist the council's hypothetical hand behind their back by saying that his mother was not to be touched, and was to be left alone and outside of the CRA's boundary and Minato-sensei would readily agree with him as Mikoto was a good friend of his and an even better friend of Kushina-sama.

He didn't know that they were also discussing if Itachi had told Naruto of the Uchiha's attempt at usurping power from the elders and the Yondaime, something Itachi vehemently denied.

He digressed, preventing his mind from wondering too far. He had to focus on the mission he was in charge of, or else he probably would have his heart stolen and used as a Raiton affinity by the Jiongu's threads and would supply and extra life to Naruto.

But the idea of plunging a Raikiri into Naruto's chest hurt him, definitely less than having his heart removed from his chest of course, however, returning home with Naruto's limp body and witnessing Natsumi's reaction at seeing her older brother (who she probably loved more than a sibling should) with a hole through his chest would probably shatter his own heart.

God, sometimes he wished he never became a shinobi.

An ANBU with a tiger mask dropped from the tree tops and landed beside a ruminating Kakashi, "Inu, we're moving out."

Kakashi nodded, grabbing his old and worn dog mask that hung loosely from his waist and attaching it onto his face. Two more masked ANBU came and fell alongside Tora.

"Let's go, Tora, Usagi, Yaku." The four of them nodded simultaneously, taking off into the treeline and headed to where Naruto's tracks seemed to have gone.

* * *

In Konoha, Natsumi and Sasuke were discussing over their missing brother. Sasuke had thought over what Itachi-Aniki had said over Naruto-Aniki and had told Natsumi. He remembered the Uchiha clan being very tense and silent in the week leading up to the massacre, there were many people who gathered in their home's basement but Itachi always accompanied him to his room and stayed with him, preventing him from peeking at the meeting.

Both teens knew that their older brothers were hiding something big from them, what with Naruto's sudden defection and Itachi's strange and wise words about Naruto's choice in eradicating the rest of the Uchiha. Naruto's note made no sense either, he was the happiest when around the three of them, but why would he write about him hating them, something they knew was untrue.

Both sighed, unable to unravel the mystery surrounding Naruto's defection. Natsumi just want to be with her Nato-nii, enjoy his comforting warmth when he cradled her in his arms even at the age of 12, hugging his strong chest and taking in his musk. But Daddy had told her that Naruto might look VERY different when she saw him next time. She had asked what he looked like but he shook his head sadly and walked away, leaving her with even more questions.

Both had resolved to training to the best of their abilities, advancing in the skill ladder with whoever their teammate was. She had demanded that she be placed on the same team as Sasuke and her daddy would bend as easily to her as he would to mommy, so in the end after some begging, they were put together with a 'Haruno Sakura'. Nobody knew Naruto's exact skill level, but it was high enough to have killed multiple guards on duty with the sharingan before escaping the village without anyone noticing.

Natsumi had shared information with Sasuke that she had received a parting gift from her Nato-nii in the form of a Kinjutsu. One that allowed the user to use sentient shadow clones to assist in anything. The idea of swarming Nato-nii in bed and latching onto every single part of him and getting the maximum surface area of Nato-nii made her excited, too bad he couldn't use it, and then she could have been surrounded by multiple… _sweaty… hot… naked…_ _Nato-nii's…_

'Whoa, down girl.'

She told herself, saving the deviant imagination for another time, preferably in bed with her custom made Naruto dakimakura featuring audio clips and a body heater for lonely nights without Nato-nii.

Man, she received weird looks from the owner for that custom order.

Shaking her head, she broke out of the horrifying memory (omake) and prepared for their daily spar to improve in their taijutsu.

_'With this, we're just one step closer to getting Nato-nii/Naruto-Aniki back!'_ And with that thought in their minds, they leaped forward, intent on doing their best.

"Huh, it seems they've found me." Naruto mumbled beneath his breath, the hairs on his neck rising as he felt the familiar feeling of Kakashi's chakra approaching with 3 other assumed ANBU's. Naruto turned around, he had found a tattered grey cloak earlier and used it to coverhis open heart and back, making it harder to target, "I haven't had time to train with Jiongu yet… but I guess I'll have to improvise, don't want to kill them though." He muttered, getting ready to fight with a dangerous Konoha shinobi.

In a few seconds, blurs hit the ground before standing up. Kakashi and his group had finally reached him and were prepare to fight the teen. The masked men and woman stared at the cloaked blonde who had his back turned to them.

"Naruto, by order of the-" He stopped in shock at the sight of the blonde teen standing before his men. They were all staring in horror at Kakashi's surrogate younger brother's body that seemed to be stitched up _(Kakuzu's body without the mouth stitches)_ everywhere like he had been chopped up and sewn back together poorly.

"I see you've noticed my new look. I must say it is not the most appealing one, but I will have to deal with it for the betterment…" His voice was quiet and cold, same with his azure eyes that darted from ANBU to ANBU.

"Please don't fight, Naruto, you can get a lighter sentence by coming with us peacefully." Kakashi lied painfully as he took off his mask and re-hooked it on his belt, knowing that Naruto was completely fucked when he got back to Konoha. No one kills a whole clan and gets away scot-free, even if you were, you'd be ostracised by the village and alienated from humans, but Kakashi supposed that nothing would really change if Naruto was alienated and ostracised, seeing as he rarely enjoyed the company of humans anyway.

Naruto sighed, placing his hands behind his back as he spoke, "We both know that's a lie, Kakashi. I'd either be executed or sent to rot in jail, and I do not enjoy both options as I would not be able to see Natsumi-chan at all." Nobody moved, and the animals were quiet. Kakashi took a breath and continued reasoning with him. He honestly did not like the way his body looked, it must have been a side effect of the Jiongu.

"I'm sure Minato-sensei can convince them to lighten your sentence considerably, he is the Hokage, in case that Kinjutsu you stole has made you forgotten." Kakashi tried a little humour, but to his disappointment, not even a small twitch of the lips occurred on Naruto's face.

"Sorry Kakashi, I'm just in the pursuit of power. But I won't kill you or your ANBU today, that's a promise but I'll need you four to report to father about just how strong I am." And with that, Kakashi's visible eye widened as he felt a vice-grip on his leg. Looking down, Kakashi saw one of Naruto's hands gripping hard on his ankle, _'What the hell?!'_ Kakashi was quickly dragged down into the ground, unable to leap away. The three other ANBU sprang into action, ready to knock the teen unconscious. Naruto's hand was quickly pulled back through the tunnel he had dug while he was stalling Kakashi by talking to him, tunnelling all the way beneath his ankle, prepared to surprise the Copy Cat with something he had never seen before.

Using the detached hand as a whip, he swung it forwards before pulling it back quickly. The black wire connecting his fist to his arm cracked the air loudly as the clenched fist delivered an incredibly fast punch with the help of the whiplash effect to an ANBU's gut, knocking the air out of Tora and causing the man to drop to his knees from the pain. The feeling of a change in the air waves behind him alerted him of the oncoming tanto wielding ANBU, Yaku, who had jumped down from the trees, intending to impale his shoulder.

Naruto spun slightly, driving his elbow into Yaku's body and avoiding the tanto shot the back of his arm. He lifted his hand up and grabbed his ANBU collar tightly and yanking him over his shoulder and slamming Yaku into the ground with his strength, cracking the dry dirt beneath the injured ANBU considerably.

"Gah!" Yaku cried as Naruto kicked him away and into Tora, knocking them into the flora of the forest. Usagi had seen his prowess at hand to hand combat and believed that she was not able to keep up with his strength and speed. Tossing out volley of shuriken, she shouted out her technique.

_"Katon__: Hōsenka Tsumabeni (Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Flower Nail Crimson)!"_

In an instant, the shuriken were all coated in the burning flame, increasing their destructive power and each sharpened immolated weapon was intending to scorch the already scarred teen. Naruto, with his quick feet, stepped silently through the rain of burning shuriken, surprising Usagi as she watched the blonde traitor danced through the shuriken with but ease.

"Hya!" Naruto shouted as he shot his arm forwards. Usagi's eyes widened behind her mask as his fist was blasted forwards, the momentum pushing it forwards while the black wires that inhabited his body kept it connected to his arm. Leaping off the branch, she let herself be open to another detectable fist that connected to her gut, gripping her vest and pulling her back to Naruto's body slowly as the black threads receded back into him.

"Sorry, Usagi-san." He brought his forearm forwards and connected it with her guts again, causing her to gasp in pain as one of her ribs almost broke from the power behind the knockout blow. She fainted almost instantly while still being held in his hand before Naruto gently set her onto the floor.

_'No need to hurt her even more after knocking her out._' He thought as he turned back to Kakashi, who was missing. Naruto hummed softly as he heard the crackle of electricity coming from his left, Naruto skilfully dodged a translucent blue and white charging dog made entirely out of electricity, one that left a trail of the blue energy that led from the dog to the trees behind as it ran and collided into the tree beside Naruto, shocking and burning it with the intense voltage behind it.

Kakashi was silently impressed with Naruto's reflexes, not many people were capable of dodging his '_Raiton: Raijū Tsuiga (Lightning Release: Lightning Beast Tracking Fang)', _especially someone so inexperienced compared to him.

"A good attempt Kakashi, but you've shown me your exact postion. _Katon: Zukokku (Fire Release: Intelligent Hard Work)!"_

From his mouth, a small ball of fire that rapidly changed into a humongous fire storm approached a surprised Kakashi who had to back flip off multiple trees in order to escape the inferno. The fire roared with incredible life, swallowing the forest whole and coating it in a bright orange-red as Kakashi reached a dirt area, clear of tree to catch fire. He stared as the bark of the trees cracked as the fire slowly devoured it with their intense heat, destroying and smoking the whole area up.

_'Luckily Usagi, Tora and Yaku are on the other side of the fire, and Naruto said he wouldn't kill them.'_ Kakashi thought to himself, knowing the blonde would keep his word. Naruto seemed to have a habit of consistently keeping promises, ensuring he never broke them and doing everything in his power to complete it.

From the flames, Naruto casually stepped out, seemingly unhindered by the fact that the flames were blisteringly hot. His black silhouette unnerved Kakashi, especially considering that the flames were dancing wildly behind him, painting the picture perfect portrait of a demon that had just ripped a portal open from the depths of hell.

"Quite interesting that one of Konoha's best has yet to take me down; clearly they've overestimated themselves and their ninja." Naruto said, loud enough for Kakashi to hear over the burning wood and the loud roaring of the fire. Kakashi tensed, waiting for Naruto's eventually attack.

"You have been played Kakashi. From the very beginning I was never truly here." Naruto continued, confusing Kakashi.

"What do you mean?" Kakashi's eye darted from left to right, scanning the surroundings with his Sharingan eye uncovered. Naruto simply shook his head, "Did you honestly think I left Konoha with only _one_ Kinjutsu? The Kage Bunshin is a very handy tool most ninja are unable to even try, let alone use." Kakashi's eye now narrowed, he had heard of the Kage Bunshin but did not believe that they were capable of taking down multiple ANBU and Kakashi in a 4 on 1 battle. The sharingan wielder was slightly sceptical that he was able to make a sentient clone capable of fighting them all off as surely they could not have been beaten by their junior so easily.

"I _am_ part Uzumaki and was born with an already large chakra pool to use the Kage Bunshin with. Unfortunately, I am unable to create more than four clones without depleting at least half of my chakra resources." Naruto told the man he considered a brother, who was shocked that he had never noticed Naruto had such a large amount of chakra.

"Goodbye Kakashi. You and your squad were a good test of my abilities." And with that, 'Naruto' poofed out of existence and vanished, leaving behind a slightly weary Kakashi who remembered he had an ANBU team to look for. Once Kakashi had left with the injured, but awake, ANBU, they set off back to Konoha to report their failure to the Yondaime who would surely be upset.

* * *

From the running river that was untouched earlier by the blazing fire that had now died out, Naruto burst out from the bottom and landed perfectly on his nimble feet. He had created the clone when he fired the _Zukokku _at Kakashi before leaping into the water to prevent him from being spotted. He knew that Kakashi would be able to stop him if he were not too careful and wanted to ensure that he was not captured yet, not when he had not even entered Akatsuki yet.

He was genuinely surprised and disappointed that Kakashi actually fell for his tunnel trap, he believed that since Naruto was his friend/surrogate brother, he could be reasoned with. Unfortunately, there were just some people who could not and would not cooperate and simply had to be knocked out and tied up before being interrogated. Had Kakashi not answered his questions, Naruto had no doubt that he would have been half-way back to Konoha by now.

Wringing the blonde locks that reminded him so much of his father and the ones his sister loved, he dried his hair before looking at the object in his palm.

Kakashi's ANBU mask, the same he had taken from his belt when he dragged the Cyclopes 5 feet under. Naruto gazed at it before his left pectoral convulsed slightly, a thin black wire popped out from the sewing marks on his body and wrapped around the mask, bringing it to his back and above the throbbing heart. Sharpening the wire, he pierced the mask before threading through the hole and into his skin, repeating the process until the mask was firmly in place and unable to move, protecting the heart from shrapnel or throwing objects.

Satisfied with his new protection, he cloaked himself again before setting off to cause trouble to draw attention to himself in order to lure Akatsuki's invitation to him.

* * *

Chapter End.

* * *

_Sorry if the chapter wasn't up to snuff. I've been pretty busy and have a few more exams coming up in the next week so yeah._

_this was more of a filler chapter and stuff. More fillers until later chapters._

_Naruto will be fucking around with stuff, but not killing innocents, to draw the attention of Akatsuki._

_**A(n) (slightly awkward (that's the intention) or funny, if you understand the references i'm making) long OMAKE will be posted tomorrow evening** so yeah, prepare for that. **I'll be referencing some pretty creepy stuff about Natsumi, Mikoto and Kushina **but hey, who gives a shit about that in fanfiction where 13 year old blonde boys get laid with his massive harems, occasionally consisting of his own mother are constantly posted?_

_I have a few more smaller **OMAKES** in store._

_Here's a little spoiler, they involve **Might Duy**. So you can enjoy that little spoiler until it's released._

_Thanks, and don't forget to review if you liked this shit._

_it's 12:05 and i'm going to bed, boys._


	3. A Silver Haired Psychopath

Hello! Due to an overwhelming number of requests that swamped Kisame, our partner for the Akatsuki will be none other than Hidan!

OR IS HE?

Due to circumstances unknown, Hidan has managed to turn himself into a girl permanently! So, your next voting decides if !femHidan joins Naruto in his Harem (WHICH A LOT OF YOU CHOSE) or just as a partner.

Enjoy!

**AN: THANKS FOR REFORMATTING EVERYTHING. I LOVE IT WHEN MY UPLOADS ONTO THE SITE FUCK THE FORMATTING UP. HAHA. I THOROUGHLY ENJOY DIGGING THROUGH CHAPTERS LIKE I'M PANNING FOR GOLD TO FIX MISTAKES THAT WEREN'T EVEN THERE BEFORE.**

Seriously though, you have my apologies for words sticking together and whatnot. I can't be bothered to dig through so many errors the site causes each time I edit something.

* * *

__**Chapter 4: Silver Haired Psychopath**__

__**Time: 1 day after Massacre. Location: Unknown.**__

* * *

"__Huh, it's been a while since we've all 'met up' together."__ The voice held a grin, a visible maw filled entirely of sharp shark teeth belonging to the tallest member in the secret organisation of Red Clouds and Black Skies. The six rainbow-silhouettes of each member stood around a bonfire placed on a large, round stone. Each member would be undistinguishable if not for their voices, unique eyes and their varying body sizes.

__"Perhaps we should do a meet up, eh Sasori?"__Kisame's question was directed to the shortest member of the group due to his hunchbacked nature. Sasori's face was unseen, hidden beneath a large straw hat; long strips of string shrouded his face further from sight, concealing his identity.

__"Do not be foolish Kisame."__Sasori's voice came out as deep guttural growl, a large segregated tail moved threateningly behind him. __"Meeting up together would only draw unwanted attention from unwanted people."__

__"Sasori is right, Kisame."__

All heads snapped towards the calm voice. A pair of purple ringed eyes met theirs, making some of the battle hardened men shiver slightly. The legendary eyes, the Rinnegan, roved across their unseen faces, almost as if he was taking in his subordinate's concealed features.

A frown, hidden by her high collar, sprouted on Pain's lieutenant's face. The group had exponentially changed after Yahiko's death. Nagato had become so obsessed with wanting to unite the world, to continue Yahiko and their dreams; that he had started to invite S-Ranked Criminals into the group in order to reach the goal faster. The end game of obtaining every single Bijuu and drawing them out, creating the Juubi and then controlling the world with an iron fist, destroying anything that disagreed or clashed with his ideals of peace.

__"So, what's the occasion this time?"__The voice came from the owner of yellow siltted eyes, both of which had a noticeable and distinct purple marking around them. Orochimaru, one of the legendary Sannin, owned that specific pair of shifty eyes.

__"We have good news."__Pain said, noticing that the members suddenly grew interested. __"We have located our last two potential recruits."__His eyes went over to Zetsu's who nodded his head inside of the Venus flytrap member that surrounded most of his body. One of his mismatched yellow eyes belonging to the white side glittered with untold glee, the white side cleared his throat in an attempt to sound professional like Leader-sama.

__"Well! We have found the potential last two recruits!"__

One of every member's eyebrows rose up high showing their disbelief at how slow Zetsu was.

__"Yes. We know that."__Orochimaru answered, sounding rather irritated by the organisation's spy's idiocy, making White Zetsu laugh awkwardly.

__"Yes. Er, well-"__Zetsu coughed in his fist, __"The two of them share something in common, immortality!"__Orochimaru's eyes widened inconspicuously, immortality was just the thing he was looking for.__"The first one we found rather interesting due to the fact that he integrated (what was it?)____**It is reported that he has managed to find a way to implant large black sentient wires into his body.**____Right, right. Large black sentient wires."__White Zetsu chimed un-helpfully.

__"What's so special about that, hmm?"__Kisame asked with a tone of interest in his voice. Sasori too, was intrigued by how he managed to do so and if it was replicable in his current wooden body and his puppets. Such an ability true was useful to him, if the wires really were sentient, they were capable of defending themselves while he could use the concentration once used in protecting them in controlling other puppets, maximizing his potential in battle. Yes… this man intrigued him.

__"Apparently the wires are capable of detaching his limbs and using them and the wires themselves as weapons,__ __**(stop that you idiot)**____sewing back his limbs if they are dismembered,____**(You fool, I said stop!)**____stealing the hearts of his enemies and granting him the use of their elemental affinity alongside special moves limited only to the wielder of this Kinjutsu."__Throughout the explanation, White Zetsu was waving his arms around wildly and shaking them to show what he meant whilst Black Zetsu was scolding him via harsh whispers heard by every member.

__"Interesting. I assume these stolen hearts are what grants him immortality?"__

__"Yep, yep, yep!"__ Zetsu cheered as Orochimaru guessed correctly, __"Of course, destroying every heart will cause him to die shortly after their unfortunate destruction."__Orochimaru hummed, storing the fact away for later use when the time came to defect and obtain samples.

__"Wait, wait! I haven't even gotten to the best part!"__ He took a deep breath, preparing to surprise the other members. **"He's**__**the son of the Yondaime Hokage who recently defected from Konoha following the slaughter of the Uchiha Clan.**____(Oh come on, I wanted to say that!)"__

Every single member's, save for Zetsu (who was still arguing with himself) and Pain, eyes opened wide in surprise. The son of the Yondaime Hokage had defected? And killed off the Uchiha Clan? Even Orochimaru, who hated the Yondaime with a burning passion, had not expected his __son__ of all people to have betrayed his family and Konoha. He would have assumed that the boy would follow in his father's footsteps and become the next Yellow Flash after the Yondaime's retirement. The child of a Kage defecting was practically unheard of! Many would groom the heirs to their seat, who would more than likely be children of theirs, as the picture perfect Kage their village wanted to see in times of strife and peace. Orochimaru now had a new person on his shit-list, the boy had wiped out most, if not all the Uchiha?!

"What about the next guy?"

Kisame asked, hoping that the son of the Yondaime Hokage would challenge him to a fight. The idea of fighting an immortal that was trained by the fastest man alive really made him excited and blood thirsty. Unknown to him, a malicious and hungry grin had managed to worm itself onto his face, making Orochimaru slightly uncomfortable as it seemed Kisame was grinning at him due to them standing opposite from one another.

__"Actually,"__Zetsu's eyes made their way to the most silent and their only female member, Konan. __"You might be interested in this one Konan-senpai! It's a girl!"__Konan merely gave a soft grunt, acknowledging the fact with only a minute amount of interest.

Undeterred by her response, he continued. __"Not much is known so far about her…"__Zetsu trailed off, tapping his white hand against his white face in a thoughtful manner. __"Her name is Hidan and she's part of a cult cleverly titled-"__White Zetsu covered his mouth in an attempt to hide his snickering, but managed to mumbled the name out through his growing laughter.__"-Jashinism."__

"Pfft, Ke-ahahahha!"Kisame broke out into gut-wrenching laughter, palming his head at the name of the cult. He managed to stand back up, towering over everyone else, wiping away an unseen tear out the corner of his eye with his finger. __"That-"__He breathed out one last chuckle,__"-is comedy gold. They couldn't think of anything cooler?"__

"I know rig-__**back to the details**____(aw, you're no fun.)____**. It is reported that she was part of an experiment by other members of the cult, Jashinists,**____"__ White Zetsu and Kisame sniggered. __**"Who apparently managed some sort of ritual to connect her to Jashin himself. It is not known if she can actually speak to him or her or if she just receives thoughts and suggestions from the dark deity."**__

__"Deity or not, no one will be able to stand against The God."__Pain murmured pride fully, his arrogant, yet calm façade of being above everything else coming into place. Zetsu nodded sagely, but Pain was unsure if it was mocking or truthful, he could never tell with the spy that had appeared one day, pledging loyalty to them.

__"Anyways, she was last seen re-visiting her home town of__ __Yugakure. We'd like to assume she isn't there for a 'friendly' visit. It is easy to spot her due to her silver hair and large red three-fanged scythe."__

__"So, who's going to go and invite them into Akatsuki?"__Sasori asked with more than a hint of interest in his voice. He certainly wanted to send the invitation, and if he declined, Sasori could easily gain a new puppet with a unique and never before seen ability.

__"We will not be inviting them yet,"__Pain answered smoothly, confusing many of the members. __"Zetsu has informed me that they will be meeting paths soon. It will be convenient to invite the both of them at once…"__

__"And if they decline?"__Orochimaru's voice questioned, clearly feeling unsure of the leader's decision. His ringed eyes were gone, eyelids shutting over them and hiding the piercing gaze from view.

__"Make a bet with them, or challenge them will suffice... If they still do not cooperate, then they are of no use to me."__Pain said with finality. The members mentally nodded, each understanding the necessity of silencing any recruits that turned them down. If word spread of a group capable of fighting destroying villages banded together, the Five Hidden Villages would willingly band together in order to bring them down which would set them back by at least a decade. They did not, however, catch the way Pain had said his sentence. That they were merely pawns to his cause of uniting the world under one single flag. It did not matter to him if they at the end survived or not, it only mattered if they died before completing their goals.

__"What are we supposed to do for now?"__Sasori's voice raked across their ears, Pain's head turned to his, acknowledging his answer.

__"Continue with collecting assets for the group. Until we have completed the group, we require more funding from bounties and jobs. There will be no use in starting trouble with villages while we are underfunded."__He turned to Orochimaru, __"I trust you will assist in building more hidden bases?" __The serpent master nodded, aware that the question the leader asked him was rhetorical. Unfortunately for Pain, he could not read minds and was left unaware that while the funds had been used to build hidden bases, the hidden bases all belonged to Orochimaru.

The image of Pain and Konan flickered briefly before disappearing completely. The other members followed in their suit, vanishing one by one until only Zetsu remained.

A sly grin formed on the visible half of his face.

__"Heh. ____**All the **____pieces are falling ____**into place…"**__

Then he too, vanished, leaving the stone room barren with the exception of the bonfire. The bonfire slowly decreased in life, the ashes glowing dimly, almost sadly, before spluttering out without a sound. One might have thought it was rather ominous, in the darkness as the flickering flames died out, one would have pointed it out, that it seemed like a bleak metaphor for the future but would have later shrugged it off, thinking it was merely their imagination running wild.

"Are you sure we can trust Zetsu?" Konan asked Nagato through a mutter, her golden-amber eyes staring out into the raining city of Amegakure. Pain kept quiet for a minute, turning around and started heading towards the door to the basement of the tower they resided in. He turned his head, glancing at her from over his shoulder.

"For now? Yes. But soon, he and the others will all prove to be obsolete to us and shall have to be disposed of."

Konan did not oblige him with an answer while Pain took his leave, going down the spiralling steps, deeper into the building where he kept his other Paths. Konan simply continued to watch as the rain hit the streets and filled canals of Ame, pitter-pattering as they collided with the concrete floor and the citizens of the grey skyscraper infested village. She closed her eyes, enjoying the breeze and chill of the afternoon –it was hard to tell, with dark grey clouds blocking out the sun- rain on her face, her shoulder-length azure hair shifting gently with the wind. Soon there would be light at the end of the tunnel, the rainbow that would come with the sun after the downpour.

She was sure of it.

Rather, she had to __assure__ herself there would be.

* * *

__**Time: 5 Days after Massacre. Location: Iwa**__

"Oi, Ōnoki-Jiji~! have you heard?"

"Hmm? What is it?" The old man's head lifted up off the desk, eyes fluttering in order to keep them open.

"Rumour has it, Konoha just got badly crippled."

"Huh?" The old man stood up in a hurry, faster than someone his age was capable of and nearly tumbling over the desk he was previously asleep on. "What happened?" He demanded, voice laced with an eagerness unheard of in a very long time.

"Not surprising," His granddaughter sighed mock-exasperatedly. "You've been sleeping on the job and nobody but me dares to wake your old and wrinkly butt up. Maybe it's high time you passed that spot on to someone more reliable," She paused, placing a finger onto her lips, ignoring the fuming old man who had a miasma of darkness surrounding his nearly balding head.

"Like me!"

"KUROTSUCHI!" He roared at the girl, irritated that she was withholding important information from him. Important information that he certainly did not receive because he was sleeping.

"Hai, hai!" His granddaughter relented. "Apparently-"

* * *

__**Location: Kumo**__

"-The 'Noble Prince of Konoha' has gone bad you say?" The big, black and burly man, the Raikage, nodded to the question directed to him by his second right hand man, Darui.

"How dull." Darui breathed out, sighing as he finished. He leaned back into the chair, propping his legs up onto the Raikage's desk.

"Dull or not, he managed to get rid of one of Konoha's greatest defence; the Uchiha, for us." A handed Darui the bingo book that was open to Naruto's page, one where he gazed across the newest and most updated entry on him. They had chosen to give him the nickname of __'Kao O Musumu Mono (The Face Stealer)'__and __'Sembo No Kemono (Beast of Many Faces)'__ due to the ridiculous amount of masks he carried with him; spoils taken from fallen ANBU of various villages. Almost every day, his mask would change, earning him both nicknames by ANBU squads who had not been killed at his hands.

"Do you honestly want to wage war on them? Now?" Darui asked, almost expecting his boss to jump at the chance to invade Konoha. The feud between Kumo and Konoha villages were not as strong as Iwa and Konoha, but Kumo would not hesitate to capitalise on the weakened country.

"Not anytime soon," The Raikage conceded to the shaggy haired blonde. War was not something they wanted to start again. Fresh memories of the Third Shinobi War still marred the minds of many shinobi and civilian of every village. Additionally, despite the fact that the Hachibi's resealing happened years ago, they still had not managed to properly return to their previous military strength after the tailed beast's attack on Kumo.

* * *

__**Time: 1 Week after Massacre. Location: 5 miles from Yugakure**__

Men surrounded the silver haired Hidan who was dressed plainly dressed in raggedy brown robes, the bottom of which were stained red with freshly spilled gore. Beneath her, a man lay, slain from multiple stab wounds to the chest by a retractable pike Hidan held in her hand.

"Oh, Jashin-sama! Here, another sacrifice to please your unending desire for blood and souls!" She turned around, the black and white skeletal markings on her body fading away, leaving her with her usually pasty skin.

She gave them a hungry grin, "Oh look! More soon-to be corpses. You guys sure know how to make an immortal girl happy." She cheered happily, lifting up her glinting crimson-stained pike and pointing it at them. The men and woman from Kiri, identified from their headbands, sneered at the silver haired lunatic and brandished their kunai, preparing to engage the enemy.

"An immortal eh?" The apparent leader, the woman who looked to be in her early twenties gave Hidan an amused smile after hearing her proclamation regarding her mortality, or lack thereof. "Well, we'll see how immortal you are with a kunai stuck in your brain."

"Gah! Quit your yapping and start your bleeding!" Hidan charged in like a bull, pike in hand. She had no idea where her scythe went, but would still make them bleed regardless. If she lost her pike, she would scratch them. If she lost her hands, she would kick them. If she lost her legs, she would bite them. A failure to kill her opponent would make her look bad in Jashin-sama's eyes.

"C'mere, I'll play hopscotch in your chest cavity!" She swung her pike wildly, knocking past one ninja's kunai with her superior strength not shown in her frail and petite body. With a great thrust, she buried the pike deep into the man's neck, mildly enjoying the warm mist of blood that covered her face. She took a deep whiff, pulling out the pike, enjoying the metallic scent the toasty crimson liquid provided.

"Ah, freshly spilled blood. What a homely smell." Reminiscing in her old memories, where she was strapped to the floor, a pentagon drawn in blood beneath her stark naked body while men and women walking up to her, chanting ominously as she casually yawned under the light of the waxy red candles. Man, it really reminded her of those corny and predictable plays in the theatre that she went to as a child, where they would summon the evil deity or monster to destroy the world or something, and then the hero would come along and stop the malicious intents that the creature had planned and get the princess in the end.

What a load of garbage.

In the end, she didn't remember much but was sure that Jashin had spoken to her, either that or it was the drugs and alcohol kicking in. But somewhere amidst Jashin speaking to her and gaining immortality, she had managed to get free, procured a large triple-fanged scythe and a pike, killed every single member of the Cult, and then bathed herself in their blood.

All in all, it was a pretty slow Friday night.

Breaking out of her wondrous reverie, she leaned out of the way of a large fuma shuriken that had nearly taken her head off, whirling away and embedding itself in the thick trunk of a nearby tree. Sure it wouldn't kill her, but fighting without a head was a real mess, believe her, she'd tried it before, watching your body swing a large scythe, stumbling left and right without any coordination while you shouted commands at your headless body who couldn't even hear your orders was incredibly troublesome.

How she managed to sew her head back to her stump of a neck was something she didn't want to bring up.

"Jeez guys, it's like you're aren't actually trying to kill me. Jashin-sama would be displeased." She shook her head disappointedly at the woman, who merely narrowed her eyes.

"Tsk, you killed Toshiro," The leader clicked her tongue, "Do you know how much paperwork you've just cost me? I'll just have to take my frustrations out on you." Hidan rolled her eyes, irritated that no one was leaking blood out of multiple orifices caused by her pike. Tired of waiting for them to make their move, she made hers.

"Kill her, and do it quick."

"You can't kill me. Y'know why?" Hidan bent down slowly, still keeping eye contact with the group of ninjas while she wrapped her fingers around the pike.

"Because," With a hard yank, she removed it from the fallen man's neck, walking forwards as she began twirling the sharpened steel rod with her dainty fingers.

"I am-" The walking picked up speed, turning into a jog before a full out sprint, the group braced themselves as Hidan plunged head first, pike raised high and pointed down, straight into the action all the while sporting a certifiably psychotic grin on her face.

__"-IMMORTAL!"__

* * *

"I was not expecting this." Naruto had watched as the silver haired girl slaughtered every single one of the Kiri ninja with a sickening smile on her face. He had been unexpectedly surprised when she had been shoved into the large shuriken she had dodged earlier on, and accidentally chopped off her own hand before promptly screaming, and Naruto quotes, __'Pleasure in pain!'__ before making a loud and uncomfortable orgasmic noise that confused the women and her men and scared Naruto –and turned him on a little-.

Apparently she wasn't kidding when she had claimed she was immortal because she had proceeded to continue fighting despite the loss of her appendage and the copious amounts of blood pouring from her wound. Surprisingly, she seemed more distraught at losing the blood because it was going to waste rather than the fact that normal people required it to live.

He shrugged at that point; he didn't have blood either, only black wires coursing through his veins.

It was also worth mentioning that she had been turned into a kunai pin-cushion, having several sticking out of her body as she cut her hunters down, continuously praising 'Jashin-sama' as she did so.

"Ugh. Great, now I need to sew back my fucking hand." Hidan sneered at the twitching appendage whilst she removed the kunai's from her grievously stabbed body with her spare hand, shudders and gasps passing through her body like ghosts from every weapon removed.

"Do you require assistance?" Naruto called out from above. Not expecting the voice, Hidan jumped lightly, dropping her severed appendage in shock.

"Wha-! Who the fuck are you?" She demanded, brandishing her pike defensively as she looked up at the figure in the treetops.

"Don't worry, I am not here to fight you. Do you-"

"Is it because I'm a girl? Well fuck you too, you sexist prick!" The blonde haired ninja was caught off guard by her comment.

"Uh-" He scratched his head awkwardly, clearly confused. "What?"

"You heard me! You're a sexist prick because you don't want to fight a girl!"

"I don't think that's how sexism works." Naruto rubbed his forehead, clearly having a hard time comprehending on why she would want to fight him when he had offered help. Perhaps she had major trust issues?

"It totally is! If I'm a girl, and you hit me, that would mean you're not a sexist, but if you don't that means you totally are!" She paused, her face turning uncertain. "Wait, or is it the other way around?"

"Definitely not how sexism works." He shook his head, "Look, I'm only trying to help you out, there's no need to debate on sexism."

"Bah!" She sneered at Naruto, unaware of the black threads that were sneaking up behind her ankles. She jabbed her finger in his direction, "You've got no balls, unlike my dad, he hit me and mama all the time!"

"That just sounds like you've been abused." He pointed out in a surprisingly sad voice, ignoring the sudden pang of pity in his chest. Naruto could not –would not- stand for abuse, even worse if it was sexual. The thought of Natsumi being sexually abused made his hand clench tightly into a fist.

Hidan snarled, her visage turning furious instead of demented. "So what if I was abused, huh? I don't need your damn pity because that just makes me a survivor! I outlived mama-"

__'So she decided to mask the pain by becoming a psychopath, interesting.'__ He mused sadly; paying rapt attention as she continued yelling her lungs out about how she had killed her father in vivid detail after he choked her mother to death in a fit of drunken rage. With a tug of his fingers, the wires that had left his wrist pulled hard from the sudden pressure placed onto it. Hidan, not knowing of the wire that had made a small circle around her feet, continued screaming at Naruto, releasing all frustration and sadness she kept bottled up involving the supressed memories from her childhood involving her abusive father.

"-And then when he had the damn gall to say that I disappointed him by not killing him in one go, so I ripped out his fucking intestines and shoved them up into his ass-Whoa!" The strings tightened, ensnaring her feet together and yanking her upwards into the branches of the large oak trees. Her head slammed into multiple thick limbs of the trees that stretched outwards as she was pulled up, prompting a rather comedic scene to any passer-by's happening to witness the spectacle.

"Ow! Ouch! Ow! Oi, will you quit- Ow!" Each 'ow' accompanied multiple loud 'clonk's, with every collision into a branch made the tree tremble violently, causing an abundance of leaves to shed from above, months in advance. Finally stopping upside down in front of Naruto, legs still bound, she groaned from the dizziness and half-heartedly swung her pike in an attempt to ward Naruto off. Ignoring her attempts at slashing him, with one hand, he began by grabbing her wrist as she missed her swipe, and used the wires in his free hand to stitch back the missing appendage into the stump that had stopped bleeding.

After getting rid of her double vision, Hidan tiredly allowed her arms to fall limp, dropping her pike back into the ground some twenty metres below her. Her earlier rant had left her physically and emotionally exhausted, more spent than she normally would feel after screaming her lungs out and participating in a rampage in the name of Jashin. Digging up the past was something she absolutely detested, so she hid it behind walls. But they had somehow segued from a joke about sexism into her abuse, and everything had just fallen apart.

"Hey. I stitched back your arm like you said earlier."

Hidan stared at him, purple eyes wide in confusion. He actually meant to help her?

"You…" She said in a surprisingly calm voice, "…You're strange, y'know that?"

"Yeah." Naruto chuckled, staring at the black threads that receded back into his body. He was getting used to the feeling of it already. "I know."

"Now, if you're not going to try and kill me… will you GET ME DOWN FROM HERE?!"

* * *

"Have you ever tried strangling a man to death with __just__ your thumb?" Condescending would be the best word to describe her natural voice, a constant sneer that stained her silky voice.

A sigh escaped Naruto's lips from behind the ANBU mask. Perhaps teaming up with a fellow immortal who was also a blood-thirsty worshipper of an evil god was not one of his better plans. Well, to be fair, most of his plans were never properly planned ahead and were half-assed at best. A good indicator of this would more than likely be the, the poorly planned assault on the Uchiha Clan, one that had led him to become the teen he was today.

"**It**–**Is**–**Glorious**." Emphasising every word lustfully, she gave him an alluring smirk that made his skin crawl.

And he was very certain that the threads had nothing to do with the feeling.

The sides of her mouths curved upwards, and near reached the bang of silver hair she pinned onto the right side of her face with a purple clip. Now that he was closer, he could easily see her Yugakure headband that hung loosely around her neck while a metal necklace with the symbol of what he assumed to be Jashin was sitting snug between her valley of ample cleavage. She had taken the liberty to free the chest area of her brown Jashinist robes, slicing the middle down to where the sides of her breasts began.

It had certainly made talking to the girl very distracting as she was much shorter than he was and whenever she talked to him, she usually boasted, puffing her chest out and unknowingly making her cleavage much more visible. Naruto even questioned if she was wearing anything underneath the robes, to which she simply wiggled her eyebrows and shot him a seductive look, asking if he wanted to find out. He promptly shot her down.

Feeling slightly bored, she decided to strike up conversation with him. "Say, how many hearts do you have left?" She asked curiously. They had been talking for a while and she had found out that he too, was an immortal, but had to change hearts every so often. She was secretly touched by the fact that he shared such valuable information with her, and had made sure to uncharacteristically thank him for trusting a complete psychopath. He had then briefly told her that he felt he was capable of subduing her if it came to an attempted –and literal- backstab after he had assessed her skill level against the Kiri ninja. She had begrudgingly accepted his offer on improving her hand to hand and scythe prowess.

"An adequate amount." Her masked companion spoke stiltedly, annoying her greatly. Hidan scowled childishly, an adorable sight were it not for the giant red three-fanged scythe, which was at least half her height, that she slung over her shoulder in a casual manner.

"Sheesh, Mr Talkative aren't you?" Hidan mumbled cynically as she rolled her purple eyes, not liking the silence one bit, finding it the atmosphere the silence brought to be too awkward. She was the polar opposite to Naruto. She enjoyed killing, he didn't. She enjoyed being loud and noisy, he didn't. She found it extremely entertaining to sadistically torture her victims before killing them, he didn't.

Suffice to say, they were the different sides to a coin.

Again, their meeting hadn't gone very well either.

"Why are you following me again?"

"I'm not. We just happened to be going in the same direction. And besides, I'm going to kill my neighbours." Whistling innocently, Naruto stared at her and found that she looked just like a beautiful and benevolent angel with her silver hair and strangely calm expression… then she adjusted the scythe that was on her shoulder, destroying her image entirely.

"Do I want to know why?" He sighed, having already expected it.

"Do you?" She inquired, doing her best to annoy him.

"Nevermi-" She cut him off before he could say anymore. "Well, if you must know," He sighed again, "I'm __preeetty__sure they knew that mama and I were abused but didn't do jack shit about it." She lifted her recently stitched hand and made a so-so gesture.

"'__Pretty'__sure?" He asked unconvinced, "Perhaps you just want to kill them for fun?"

"Well, there's that," She pointed out, admitting one of the many reasons she had returned to Yugakure. "But they are kinda old, like 'ancient' old. I'd like to see the look on their face when they open their door and come face to face with the Grim Reaper." She grinned as she brought her hood up, covering her eyes and nose from the shadow and leaving only a cruel smile in place.

"Okay, I get bonus points if they get a heart attack and die on the spot."

"I'm not going to play this game with you."

"Aren't you?" Naruto did his best, refraining from swinging his fist into Hidan's face. Suddenly, with Hidan around, it felt like it was going to be a very long day.

* * *

Anyways, hope I didn't disappoint. I'm going to take a nap because I feel like shit.

Good night.


	4. Let's Get Physical, Physical!

Chapter 4: Let's Get Physical, Physical!

* * *

"That was entertaining." Hidan declared as they left the entrance casually, stretching her arms high up in order to get rid of the kinks in her upper body. Naruto rubbed the bridge of his nose, something he had repeatedly been doing in the few days he had met Hidan, which included sighing.

A lot of sighing.

"Also incredibly unproductive." The time wasted yesterday could have been used to spread his name some more by taking the harder jobs, which would –hopefully- lead to Akatsuki hiring him or whatever it was they did to recruit members.

"Oh poo," Waving off his dismissal to the time spent during the whole of yesterday trying to kill her neighbours. "It was funny as hell when that guy saw you in the Santa outfit, he was like '__Ah, I'm an old man and I have claustrophobia!'__Hilarious!"

"Again, claustrophobia isn't a fear of Santa Claus."

"Yeah, and I'm a fucking idiot." She snorted, causing Naruto to pause in his step for a second. He opened his mouth before closing it as he silently debated on whether to comment on her statement or not. He didn't want to get chased by her scythe-wielding ass again when he said the wrong thing like agreeing to her question of __'Do I look fat in these robes?'__. Deciding to ignore her sentence, he felt like he had to tell her about her current fighting style and what he wanted to do.

"Alright. We have to begin training."

"Wait-What? When the hell did I agree to this?"

"When you decided you would follow me around after I-" He stopped and corrected himself. "-We killed your neighbours." She was about to protest when he cut her off, "Besides," He gave her a slightly snide look, "Your fighting style is atrocious. You swing your scythe wildly and pray to your demon god for luck on hitting things."

"Hey, you go with what you got." She shrugged uncaringly, her lazy side coming out. "And I didn't learn how to use this baby." Hidan shook the scythe as they trotted along the gravel road leading out of Yugakure, enjoying the crunching texture and sound beneath her wooden sandals.

"What's there to learn? You take it, and you cut bitches up. Simple." Stepping particularly hard on the gravel, the sound of rocks roughly rubbing against rocks met their ears and Hidan smiled. The sound reminded her much like the time she had stepped on her father's knees, caving them inwards, him screaming and swearing loudly before she shoved her fist into his-

"This is a good place to train." Turning her head left, she found herself surprisingly enthralled by the scenery. Untouched by the hands of Mankind, the nature of the place brought a strange, yet welcoming, feeling to her and made her feel calm. Despite the loud gushing of water from the large waterfall, she could still hear her blonde friend muttering about what he needed to camp out here. They would have lived in an inn, but it was already too late as they had gone off road from Yugakure's exit. Making her way carefully down the rocky outcrop to the rock filled lake where the waterfall was spilling into, she followed Naruto slowly, still entranced by the beauty and stillness of the area. The masked blonde gestured for her to come over, and she splashed through the ankle high water, nearly tripping on a few large pebbles.

"Alright." Naruto huffed as he hung their backpack on a tree branch, "We'll begin here." Naruto rolled his shoulders forwards and backwards, loosening his tight back muscles. "No chakra. Give me all you've got." He made his way to the other side of the river, all the while stretching as he did so. Hidan's confidence, or rather arrogance, made Naruto smile slightly. He watched her behind the spider mask, stifling a chuckle the girl began spouting obscenities and vulgar words he hadn't even heard of in a miserable attempt at demoralising him. If there was one thing Hidan had not yet learned in the weeks they had been travelling together, it certainly would have to be the fact that he was not affected by any kind of snide remarks. He was, however, very__, very__ sensitive when it came to comments about his family, so Hidan used all the wisdom she had in her body –not very much to begin with- and avoided that topic after he had given her the cold shoulder for the entire day.

"I hope you're ready Naruto, cause I'm gonna-" He took off his mask and tossed it to the side of the riverbank. "Whoa… Shit, is that how you look like? I'm digging those mouth stitches. The whisker marks are pretty cute too. Fuck, I really want some."

"You're not creeped out by my appearance?" He was slightly surprised at her positive reaction to his scarred face and the whisker marks that came with having a Jinchuuriki as a mother.

"Fuck no, that shit's cool as fuck. Not to mention you're already pretty good-looking." Naruto was actually really touched by her sincere words but the moment was quickly lost when she spoke again, "Hey, you wanna fuck after this?" She joked in an attempt to distract him. Tensing her muscles up, she prepared to launch right at him.

"Thank you for your words and… the answer's still a no."

"Eh, I gave it a shot." She shrugged before taking off straight at him, intending on pummelling him to the ground and showing him who was superior.

__"I'm so going to-!"__

* * *

"-Lose. You lost again." Naruto sat down next to a downed Hidan, lying in the water. Judging by her expression, she was exhausted as hell. And he could relate, he had pushed her past her limits and out of her comfort zone in order to make her do better.

__"Oh har-dee-fuckin'-har… Urgh… Fuck you."__ Hidan said slowly as she groaned, her short wet white hair splayed all over her face. Feeling the giant hole inside her body where her stomach used to be, now turned to mash, she stayed still for a moment and began to feel the muscles stitching back together. It had been a daily occurrence to damage something internally or externally so much so that the strange feeling didn't feel so foreign anymore. Instead of being horrified by the touch of what she could only describe as __'fingertips gently and slowly creeping over her flesh'__, it now felt natural after years of re-growing missing limbs.

"I've always wanted to know, just what happens when a part of your body __vanishes__?"

"Imagine cutting your hair. Now image that hair as a limb. It's the reason why I stitch my body parts back."

"How'd you find out?" Hidan grunted, pulling herself up into a sitting position.

"For fun, I cut off my arm and tossed it into an active volcano."

"Huh... Can you die?"

"Whoa, hold up Scarface. What am I playing, Twenty Question?" And as if forgetting what she had just said, she answered his question. "And I don't think so. That volcano didn't seem to like me and erupted right into my face. Blasted me clean off the side of the mountain." She grimaced. "Took me weeks to regrow everything, you don't even want to know. Or at least I think I did. Things tend to get fuzzy when a volcano blows up right in your face." She shook her hand negatively at Naruto, who chuckled as he inattentively toyed with his mask.

"I wonder what Natsumi-chan's doing right now…"

"Who's that? Your girlfriend?" Hidan snorted, feeling a strange and unwanted bump in her chest at the close suffix he gave the girl. Not even she got a suffix like that. Well, then again she didn't really think that a feminine suffix would go well with her masculine name.

"No," Naruto chuckled, remembering the last time he saw her, sleeping in her underwear holding his boxers in her hands. Hidan gave a sigh of relief, "But I think she wants me to be." Eh, at least she wasn't his girlfriend.

Hidan got back up to her feet slowly, done with relaxing and ready to go on with her training. Picking up her scythe, she began twirling it around in different manners, something she had learnt after a few hours of training with Naruto. Apparently, Naruto was quite the master at the bo-staff, and a scythe was like swords on a bo-staff, so it wasn't all that different, if not heavier. They took breaks between spars in order to hone Hidan's scythe skills as much as they could in one day. Naruto recalled a particularly funny moment when she tried spinning the scythe in a figure-8 movement, failed horribly and got the scythe jammed into her forearm.

As Hidan went through the motions, she began flushing slightly at the memory of Naruto hugging her from behind and holding her arms gently to direct her hands after her failed attempt at doing tricks with the scythe.

Hey, in her defence she didn't know he gave such good cuddles?

"Whatever, let's go again. I'm not down for the count yet. What's the score?" Naruto paused, recalling the tally.

"50 - nil. I'll let you figure out who's nil." He grinned at her, tossing his mask back into the water. Hidan scoffed, slamming the butt of her scythe into the water.

"Shut the fuck up, now get up and let me finally kick your ass!" Hidan rushed through the water, her scythe spinning wildly to hit Naruto.

"What's that? You want to get to a 100 – nil? I think I'll oblige your request." Naruto's rushed forwards to meet her in hand to hand combat, kunai in one hand while the other was prepared to act on a moment's notice.

__"WELL JOKES ON YOU, I'LL NEVER LOSE 'CAUSE I'M A FUCKIN' SURVIVOR!"__

* * *

_BACK IN KONOHA._

* * *

In the designated fight zone were two figures. Upon closer inspection, they could be identified as pair of teens, each bent forwards, supported by their knees, aching arms limp from the full hour of non-stop fist-fighting. Forearms and shins bruised heavily with trails of blood dripping off their knuckles. Each had varying ways to show their happiness, a mouthful of white teeth shown in the form of a proud grin while the other had a cocky smirk stuck to his face. They stared each other in the eye, waiting for any sudden movements. When it seemed like they were both done, they took a deep breath and stood back up to full height.

"Not... not bad at all, Sasuke-baka." The grinning one spat out a wad of blood, mixed with her saliva. It hit the forgotten and broken sandal that lay at her feet.

"I... I can't say the same for you, Natsumi-dobe." The smirking one panted out as he gently rubbed the bruise on his face, one that looked suspiciously like the heel of the broken sandal.

"Man, Tsu-baa-chan is gonna kill me." She gestured to her injuries. The idea of Tsunade, her Godmother going ballistic on her was not as scary as her mommy in her 'Kyuubi Form', where her bright red hair would float around in bundles, as though they were the tails of the Kyuubi itself. She had yet to learn that from her mommy. During a meeting amongst the clans, Kushina had told Natsumi that in the past, when they were still a huge clan, every Uzumaki woman had the ability to do so in order to keep their husbands in check. She had then briefly heard the lazy muttering of __'Women. Troublesome'__ before a resounding clang of metal (sounding suspiciously like a frying pan) came from the same direction as the voice did, apparently hitting the person who had spoken without an ounce of empathy judging by how loud it was.

Natsumi grimaced as she took in the state of her body. Her disgustingly bright orange cardigan was partially torn, showing off her white tee that an Uzumaki spiral in the middle. Her tone stomach and belly button was visible as the shirt only covered her upper body, allowing her to cool down easily. Her black leggings were also spoilt, having holes that varied in sizes at her knees and shins.

"Hn," Sasuke made that agitating noise of his, wiping his bloodied knuckles against the ruined blue material he once called his shirt. "Mom isn't going to be happy." He stated, indicating the state of his ruined shirt.

__"She certainly isn't going to be."__

"Whoa!-" Both teens yelped in tandem at the voice that had come from beside them, leaping away from the elder brother of Sasuke that had suddenly appeared.

"God." Sasuke huffed out, closing his eyes as he attempted to lower his heartrate which had spiked up when Itachi had managed to sneak up on both of them. "Don't do that. Ever."

"Yeah, Itachi-nii, you scared the crap out of me!" Natsumi had her hand above her breast, clutching her heart through her flesh as though preventing it from leaping out of her body.

Itachi smiled faintly, noticing the dishevelled state of the teens. So they were keeping to their promise of getting stronger. Hell, Jiraiya had stopped over, and after much coaxing from her father, she had been taken under his wing as the second student of the Perverse Toad Sage.

Of course, Kushina had gotten back at him for peeking on her at the bath house. With the demon fox mode on full blast, all nine of her hair bundles began violently and mercilessly whipping him into the ground, with chunks of concrete being taken out at every swipe. Natsumi had briefly heard his broken form say something alike to 'Completely worth it' and had told her mommy, leading to another round of pain for the sage.

Many things had happened while Naruto was gone. Their academy teacher, Mizuki, attempted to go rogue, failing miserably when he had attempted to snatch and run with the Scroll of Sealing. He had not known that the room had been beefed up after Naruto managed to steal the Jiongu, getting caught by the one ANBU stationed in the room at all times. She and Sasuke had gotten their new sensei, Kakashi, who was behind Itachi in terms of friendship to Naruto before he committed treason against Konoha and got himself blacklisted in multiple hidden villages. They had almost failed the test because Sakura kept fawning and checking over Sasuke every step of the way, infuriating both of her teammates with her incessant and unstoppable nagging.

"Oooh~! Sasuke-kun!"

__'How did she even find us?'__ Both injured teens released a tired sigh at the sound of their third member's voice. Itachi gave a small chuckle at their faces. He assumed it was the pink haired girl that Sasuke was always complaining about.

"Aniki, hide me!" Sasuke gave a harsh whisper to his elder sibling, turning his back to the general direction of the voice. Itachi merely stepped forwards and got in front of his younger brother, over shadowing him and blocking him from sight with his height.

Skipping towards them merrily, eyes shut from the large cheerful smile that overtook the bottom of her face. Sakura reached the three -or two in her case- of them before pausing. "Sasuke-kun?" She looked around, swearing that he was standing there not one minute ago. Natsumi grinded her teeth together, trying her best not to walk over and choke the living life out of her teammate. The pink haired bimbo had done her best to make cow eyes and flirt at her Naru-nii when he was still in the academy with them.

* * *

**_FLASHBACK: ACADEMY DAYS._**

__"Kyaaa! Naruto-ku-" Naruto's palm met Sakura's flying body, her face to be more exact, stopping her from hugging him. Without expressing any form of emotion, his eye watched as her face squished into his calloused palm, her cheeks bulging from inbetween his fingers while spittle came out from the lips that had been pushed away.__

__"I don't think so." Naruto mumbled, tired from his training from yesterday.__

__And with that, he pushed her squashed face straight into the face of one Inuzuka Kiba. Both kissed through means of being forced by Naruto's hand. Realising this, both separated after a full three seconds of lip on lip action.__

__"AARGHHHH-" Kiba screamed, clawing at his face, kneeling down as though he had been hit fatally with a kunai. The boys near him scattered, fearing for their lives as one of their kin received the deadliest, 100% fatal, malady known to boys throughout the known universe…__

__"-COOTIES!" And like a downed soldier, he dropped onto his face into the dirt, unmoving. A nearby boy put his thumb to his mouth and mimicked a trumpet. Playing a slow funeral march (Military Taps is the name of the march), the boys saluted their departed brother in arms. One sniffed and dabbed away the tears forming at his eyes, closing them briefly before putting his hands together in a prayer.__

__On the other hand, Sakura was itching and scratching violently, marking her body with red scratch marks from the uncomfortable biting sensation she felt throughout her body.__

__"FLEAAAASSS!"__

__Naruto watched as she spat onto the ground, wiping her tongue furiously in some childish belief she would get rid of the kiss. He found the Inuzuka boy mildly amusing, making himself seem like an idiot… the boy had hit on his sister and when she had ignored his attempts, he had made fun of her beautiful red hair.__

__'Wait,' Naruto paused in thought, 'He____is an idiot.' Shrugging, he left the pair behind as he went to his secluded spot in the academy to eat lunch. The crowd of children separated to give way to the son of the Yondaime, who also managed to earn the nickname the 'Walking Glacier of Konoha' due to how he responded to –an alarming amount of- confessions.__

__With a cold and expressionless-__

__"No."__

* * *

**_END FLASHBACK_**

* * *

That pretty much ended Sakura's crush on Naruto, but still!

"Our apologies, Haruno-san, but Sasuke has just been called home by our mother." Itachi apologised with a small genial smile on his face, and for a second there, both Sasuke and Natsumi genuinely believed the stoic faced Uchiha's lie. Sakura on the other hand, completely bought the fib and her expression fell, apparently disappointed yet not even once questioning where the younger Uchiha had went. Everyone without pink hair in the immediate vicinity felt that she was definitely not suited to become a kunoichi of any kind and would be better of being a civilian-

__'Or even better! A siren for emergencies!'__ There, Natsumi found the perfect job for her and her obnoxiously loud voice that she inherited from neither of her parents. Sasuke and Natsumi had discussed the topic about her being adopted during one of their lazy days.

"Darn it!" She punched her open palm as hard as she could, which amounted to a baby punching another baby. She would probably bruise her own palm and her knuckles. Natsumi chuckled at the thought. Noticing the laughter, Sakura turned to Natsumi and looked surprised, "Natsumi? When did you get here?" She also realised that she was bleeding and badly contused. She clicked her tongue disapprovingly, "Did you fall down? You ought to take care of yourself more," She gestured to her uninjured skin disdainfully, "Like me! In your current state, no boy will ever like you."

The redhead controlled herself, preventing a unladylike riposte that certainly would have gotten her an earful from her mommy and daddy and a discrete thumbs up from Naru-nii.

"Yeah, that's great Sakura." Natsumi nodded uncaringly, suddenly smirking at an old memory. "Say, how did Kiba's kiss taste like? Like his balls or dog food?" Sakura blanched at the memory, freezing in place as the image of Kiba's face smacking into hers appeared.

"I didn't kiss Kiba!" She screamed, allowing everyone in a mile radius to know of her location.

"I and many others think otherwise." A cocky smirk emerged on Natsumi's tired face, enraging Sakura.

"That!- It was all because of your stupid traitor brother-**!**" In an instant, a pair of injured hands made their way to her collar, filthy fingers hooking from beneath Sakura's Qibao neckband upwards all the while pushing her backwards into the cement wall. Gone was the cocky smirk and the fatigue, replaced by fury not known to both the Uchiha's and Sakura. Natsumi's eyes were wide open, her face an inch away from a frightened pink haired Haruno while she whimpered under the piercing gaze of her teammate.

__"You listen, and listen well, Haruno."__The grip on her collar tightened, making it uncomfortable for Sakura as it seemed like her top was about to be torn off. Green and quivering globes darted to Itachi, who merely watched on with wide eyes, an expression hardly ever found on the unreadable Uchiha. __"If you ever, and I mean ever, talk about my Nii-chan like that again…"__A sadistic gleam shone in her crimson –__crimson?!-__ eyes.

__"You just might find it very difficult to speak without a jaw."__

Ticked off at not responding to her question, Natsumi stepped back as she pulled the girl forwards into her shoulder before slamming her back into the wall. Sakura yelped in pain, but the hands that had ruined her shirt –stretched it out!- found themselves around her skinny chicken neck, tightening just below the point of bruising. It would not bode well for her if she had physical evidence of assaulting her stupid teammate, not even the shirt could be used against her but she already knew the frightened girl wouldn't rat on her. Sakura nodded as much as she could with hands holding her neck in place. And in an instant, almost as if it were never there, Natsumi blinked and the red was gone, having bled out and replaced with the lavender her mother passed down to her.

"Good. Now don't make the same mistake again. Is that clear?" Sakura nodded once more before the hands that held her captive released her, dropping her onto her bottom. Not saying another word, the girl stumbled to her feet and scrambled away, not caring about her appearance this time.

Sasuke stepped out from behind Itachi, glaring in the direction where Sakura went before turning to Natsumi. The now quiet girl had her head down, her righteous anger ebbing away as her fatigue began returning two-fold, causing her shoulders to sink low. Sasuke couldn't tell her expression from his point, but could easy guess that she was in an emotional slump. He began to walk forwards but Itachi's firm grip made itself known on his shoulder. Turning to his older brother with a questioning look, Itachi merely gave him a narrowed look before nodding, a sign for him to watch what he said to Natsumi.

"Natsumi?"

Slowly approaching the unresponsive girl, he walk around her to her front and took in her watering eyes. Softening his often cocky features, he hugged his sister-figure and patted the back of her scalp gently, soothingly like his mother did when he had nightmares about his lost clansmen.

"Don't worry Natsumi…" She sobbed into his shoulder, missing her big brother dearly. "There, there. We'll get him back." He whispered soft words into her ear, doing his best to calm the girl down.

"I know we will… I just miss him so much."

__'Naruto,'__ Itachi looked at the evening sun set, __'I hope you know what you're doing. For the sake of your family.'__

"Again. Tell me why," Naruto bit back a groan as he watched the carnage unfold before him. "Just why, are we here again?" They had travelled again after Hidan had finally won a match by complete accident and total luck, but her skill had improved drastically in one day, bumping her up scythe skill from the rank of __'insane psycho'__ to __'fairly-competent newbie'__.

Hidan gave her usual grin, but seemed chipper and much more lively as she and hundreds of other spectators observed a bunch of men and women fighting to the death in an area with blunt objects. Sticking out her middle finger into Naruto's hidden face, she began. "Number one, we're low on funds. I heard we can join this competition, winner gets a shit load of cash, y'hear me?" Her second hand shot up and gave Naruto another middle finger. "And number two, because I'm so sick of you complaining every time you kill someone. So you gotta come here and man the fuck up by killing a bunch of bitches."

"Innocents. Not someone." Hidan removed her middle fingers from his mask and placed her hands to her hips, a scowl on her face.

"This is the shinobi world, Naruto. Not everything is bright and sunny. Look at me," She gestured to her whole body. "I'm a psychotic maniac that has immortality and share thoughts with a dark deity that I thought was a guy but is actually a girl." Ignoring his obvious raised eyebrow from behind the mask, she continued. "You on the other hand turned into a heart-stealing Frankenstein with a BDSM-fetish. Still think the world is all sunshine and rainbows?"

"I already knew that, and it's Frankenstein's Monster. Frankenstein was the doctor." He corrected her.

She gave him a look. "Oh, whatever nerd. Besides, eventually you'll have to kill innocents; those two old geezers that lived next to my place didn't count. They were practically the walking dead with how fuckin' old they lived to." She leaned on her staff, bending her back like an old person's. "Also, you didn't even defend yourself from the BDSM-fetish tag I placed on you. I'll bet you use those whips to tie yourself up and spank yourself, don't you." Hidan shuddered violently, almost exhilarated, at the idea and Naruto inched away.

He sighed. "I assure you, I do not spank myself."

"Yeah," Hidan snorted. "And the sky isn't purple." She walked away after muttering condescendingly, leaving an even more confused Naruto behind.

"But the sky isn-" Deciding to drop it, Naruto quickly followed his snickering companion to their seats. Their location? An 'underground' fighting arena. And when Naruto meant underground, he meant illegal, not as in underneath the-

Oh, you get what I mean.

"Excuse me... Pardon me... Coming through." Naruto muttered to the different people that were crowded around the railings, watching and cheering as a man was killed without mercy, screaming as the kunai was plunged into his belly over and over again. Hidan on the other hand, made no effort to be polite. Shoving and roughly bumping spectators out of the way, most gave way as the sight of a tiny woman effortlessly carrying a giant scythe scared the shit out of them.

"Oi, move fucker... Get the fuck outta my way, shit-bird... __You mother fucker, did you just grope me?!__" Naruto could hear Hidan kick someone hard, causing loud crunch which was followed up immediately by an agonising scream, the pain finally registering into the, judging by the masculine screams, man's brain. The crowd groaned as they saw the man falling to his knees, clutching his privates, the same place where Hidan had viciously kicked.

"No one touches my ass, got it, __Bendy__?" Naruto couldn't see what she was doing, but could easily infer that she had bent something out of shape judging by the__affectionate__ nickname she gave her molester. As much as Naruto didn't want to admit it, he would like to see people like him suffer, rapists and the like.

__"ARRRGGHHHHH, MY DICK!"__

The sound of bones being snapped could be heard, followed up with the shrill scream of Hidan's victim.

_"DID YOU FUCKING HEAR ME, BENDY? IF YOU TOUCH ME AGAIN, THE ONLY WOMAN THAT'LL BE LAUGHING AT THIS PATHETHIC LITTLE THING EVER AGAIN WILL BE ME WHEN I CUT THESE DRIED UP RAISINS OFF YOUR GODDAMN BODY. SO DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE WORDS 'NO ONE FUCKING TOUCHES ME'? DO YOU?!"_

__"I GOT IT, I GOT IT!"__ The voice wailed, wishing that he was dead just so that she would stop grinding her sandal into his 'dried up raisins'. __"NOW LET ME GO YOU FUCKIN' CRAZY ASS BITC-__**_! AAAAGGGGGRRRRHHHHH, MY FINGERS!"_**

Naruto palmed his forehead.

__'Can't we go to one place without maiming or permanently crippling someone?'__

"Did you really have to cut off his fingers save for his pinkies?" Naruto asked as they were nearing their seats, quite close to the railings. He hoped some guy's blood didn't spray onto him, he had taken a bath not too long ago.

"Did I? Not really. I did it because it was funny, that's why." Hidan chuckled. "Can you imagine him? Trying to pick shit up with only his pinkies? Hahahaha! That's how you leave an impression on people. Something they won't ever forget." Hidan smirked; evidently very proud of her makeshift surgery she performed on the man who had just lost two thumbs and six fingers to her dearest scythe. Jashin-sama was very pleased with the fact that Hidan had left him alive with only his pinkies. Now he could never masturbate properly, eternal torment!

"Oh don't give me that look; he called me a crazy ass bitch too..." She argued poorly in her defence.

"I very much worry for the man that marries you." Naruto said offhandedly, feeling very sorry for the unfortunate man that would catch Hidan's lilac eyes.

That certainly caught Hidan off guard, seeing as she tripped and fell onto her face. Helping her up, Naruto watched as she looked indifferent to the fall, acting all cool and casual. Noticing that Naruto was still looking at her, she snarled awkwardly at him.

"Wh-What?! Marriage is something that won't ever happen for me! I'm a free woman!"

"Hmm... A shame. I can already hear the cries of the men around the Elemental Nations."

Hidan flushed furiously. His sarcasm, lost on the spluttering silver-head.

"Sh-Shut up! I-I bet you totally want to marry me! An-And you definitely want to give me a bunch of children and... and..." Her voice suddenly got very hazy, like she had suddenly lapsed into a daydream.

"...And then we'll have a pair of cute little girls. Th-the older one, Akemi, she'll have your blonde hair and my purple eyes and the younger one, Akeno, will have my natural brown hair and your big blue eyes... and we'll all live in a... a nice house beside the sea, surrounded by a white picket fence and lots of... lovely flowers for us to grow. And even though we're immortal, we'll love each other and our babies until the end of time." Hidan's eyes began to sparkle slightly, looking very much like she was about to bawl her eyes out were it not for the faint misty smile on her face. Naruto suddenly realised that when Hidan wasn't struck by bouts of insatiable bloodlust and insanity... he felt like he was actually attracted to her.

Naruto looked unsure for a second before he chuckled. "Good one, Hidan. For a second, you nearly got me." Hidan's face got confused for a second before she realised what she had said, and turned her confusion into a savage grin before she shoved him into his seat. "Oi, Naruto. You want anything?" She gestured to the stand selling greasy junk food.

"No thanks, I'm fine." Hearing his answer, she turned around, the grin dropping into a small frown.

"Whatever." She mumbled, placing a hand to her heart. Feeling it beat furiously, the silver haired girl shook her head and ignored the feeling, making a bee-line towards the concession stand where a fat greasy man was selling hotdogs and popcorns. __'Baka...'__

"Catch." In a bitter voice, Hidan tossed an open bag of popcorn at Naruto. Not expecting the food since he hadn't asked for any, the bag knocked against the side of his head and caused popcorn to go everywhere. Most of it falling into the arena where the yellow debris distracted a pair of men who were fighting and caused them to be eaten alive by a fairly large lion that had been recently released into the pit.

"Are you mad about something? Did I say something wrong?"

__"Yes. No. Shut up."__ She spoke in clipped tones.

"Alright, alright." Naruto raised his hands up in surrender, "If I did, I just wanted to apologize."

"Tsk, you don't even know what you did wrong and now you want to apologize?"

Naruto groaned softly at how she was acting. Was this the reason father agreed with anything mother said? Just to avoid this kinds of situations entirely? __"Women. Strange creatures, truly."__ He mumbled beneath his breath and behind his mask.  
__  
__"What'd you say?" She turned to face him, the narrowed eyes alerting him to rethink his previous statement.

"I said," He cleared his throat, "Er-Natural brown hair?" He spoke again in a smaller voice, hoping she bought his lie.

Hidan looked lost for a moment, "Huh?"

"You know, when you were telling me that joke earlier on and you said that you wanted one of your '__daughters'__ to have your natural brown hair?"

"Oh," Hidan's face dropped for a moment, before perking right back "Right. I used to have brown hair," Scowling, she began tugging on her silver-white hair unhappily. "Then that stupid cult decided to torture me in order to please Jashin-sama, they fucked with me so much that I got such a serious case of 'Marie Antoinette Syndrome'. And Jashin-sama wasn't all that pleased that her champion was being abused without even receiving her blessing yet. I could've died that night, but remember, I'm a mother fuckin'-"

"-Survior. Besides… I like your hair as it is." Naruto finished her sentence, and Hidan smirked at him before blushing at the second statement, secretly glad that he had remembered her catchphrase and very happy that he had complimented her hair. It was an obvious trait of her near perfect body that she was very insecure about as it made her feel different on sight, but did a very good job at hiding her feelings about it. She felt as though the hair made her look freaky and in the perspective of a normal girl, his kind words made her feel warm inside. She swore she could hear Jashin-sama egging her on to hold his hand.

And you know what?

She fuckin' did.

Not because Jashin-sama told her to, but because she wanted to. Again, Jashin-sama seemed to be cheering loudly in her head, sounding surprisingly cheerful for a deity representing bloodlust and carnage.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at the action. "Is something-"

"-I'm cold! Now hush and watch them kill each other." Hidan quickly muttered an excuse. Not wanting Naruto to get the wrong idea, yet not wanting him to let go. Naruto allowed a happy smile to grace his face, another thing he had been doing a lot ever since meeting Hidan besides sighing.

And there they sat, watching a bunch of half-naked men and the occasional woman slaughter each other, holding hands as fresh gore sprayed in the air. In Hidan's opinion, a Saturday afternoon just didn't get better than this.

* * *

**_BACK IN KONOHA, INSIDE OF NATSUMI'S SEAL._**

* * *

**"So… You're my container, are you? What bring you to this… septic tank of a seal I reside in?"** Kurama spat in contempt at the little girl, backed up by her mother, both of whom looked very similar. **"Oh, and brought your mother with you as well?"**

"Yeah. And I'm here to…" Kurama tensed up, expecting the two redheads to pick a fight with him. To chain him down with those insufferable chakra restraints of theirs and control him forcefully, stealing his power for their own uses like they had done to his siblings.

Typical humans, so predictable.

"… be friends with you."

He took that back. He had not expected that answer at all.

The fox snorted, blowing a gust of wind at the mother and daughter pair who stared down the Kyuubi without fear. Natsumi had dealt with scarier things before, like her mother on a rampage and… and Naruto leaving.

**"An interesting game you play, child. What could you possibly interest me that would want me to grant you my power? Tch, I am the great Kyuubi, the destroyer of countries and-"**

"-Is very alone." Natsumi cut the fox off, noting the widening of the slit eyes. She had hit the nail on the head on that one. "Which is why I'd like to get to know you. It must be boring as hell to be all alone, sleeping all the time. I don't want to force you to share your power, which is why I'm extending a hand out to you as an understanding that I'm on your side."

**"Quite the special mortal you are, so much more different from your ancestors. They themselves tried to use my power for their own. Humankind is just as bad as I am, even more so. Igniting and causing wars, killing and raping, so many of these things in attempts at what? Land? Money? Power? Earthly tethers are of no use to the dead. Besides, there's no telling what you actually want from me. This could very well be some ruse."**

"That's why I want to be your friend. So that We-" She gestured to both herself, Kushina and Kurama. "-Can understand each other better. That I can understand the Bijuu and you can understand humans. I won't lie, but I really do need power from you, but I won't do it forcefully. Or else I'd be just as bad as the humans you've met in the past." Th glowing eyes beyond the darkness of the bars seemed to glint slightly, the Kyuubi contemplating his words.

**"…Hmph. We will see..." **He had gotten aquainted with Natsumi's personality rather well over the years and no matter how perverse, eccentric and strange she came off as he still could sense the goodness in her. She was even offering him an olive branch. He supposed he could play nice until she proved otherwise.

The little redhead gave the Kyuubi a thumbs up and a giant grin.

__"That's all I can ask for."__

She was so glad she took those speech classes daddy forced her to attend seriously. It was to build up a potential future Hokage's ability to boost morals during war and to connect with their people. And it had totally paid off! Had she not taken it, she could easily guess that she would have pissed the Kyuubi off by saying the wrong thing. Thank Kami she decided to do it diplomatically.

As Kushina and Natsumi faded, Natsumi swore she saw the Kyuubi grin, right as she vanished from the seal and returned to the real world. Whether or not it was a good grin or a bad grin, Natsumi didn't really know. But it didn't matter in the end. She was going to make him into her friend even if it took her forever!

* * *

**Chapter end.**

Hey guys, decided to go for more character development and fluff in this chapter instead of fighting. The beginning of the chapter where they exit Yugakure will be a future OMAKE, as you can already tell with the whole Santa Claus thing (10 points if you can guess where that's from).

**EVENTUALLY, THEY WILL BE MEETING AT THE LAND OF WAVE ARC.**


	5. An Immortal's Biggest Fears and Dreams

Hidan was by no means a materialistic girl. Sure, she loved money as much as the next person, but the thing was that she didn't actually need it.

Housing wasn't a prime problem for her. The girl could sleep in the mud in the middle of a thunderstorm and have no problems, sure it'd be cold as hell, but why do that when she could get a cosy room to stay in just by forking out a bit of Ryo? Better yet, kill the innkeeper herself?

Food was good, though not exactly need. Yeah, it prevented malnutrition but the main reason she actually bought it was just because she liked to savour and try different types of foods. But when you didn't need to eat like the average person did... or drink water... or breathe to live, money wasn't exactly a necessity. The only actual things she needed were the clothes on her back and her three lovely weapons to work and live efficiently. After all, killing people with hands got boring after a while, what better way to kill someone with their own hands?! Gave a whole new meaning to 'Why're you hitting yourself?', she felt.

But when she actually had money? Splurging wasn't exactly a problem for the silverette.

And here she found herself at a fork in the road, her boyfrie- Er, best friend beside her, a gaping hole in her belly that was slowly healing, all dressed in a spanking new set of black robes and actual underwear -Lacy black cotten to seduce her love interest, if you were interested- her blonde partner forced her to buy, as well as a sackful of Ryo notes that could feed a whole family of four for a month.

But to the family of four, Hidan would say to them a hearty 'Fuck you, starving people!' To get the small fortune, the very same she slung over her shoulder, she had gone through a test of wits, a challenge of her strengths as well as a-

Ah, who was she kidding. She killed a bunch of people and got stabbed by Naruto in the gut during their turn at the arena, faking her death so that they would get the money. Whoowee, there was a loooot of blood involved in that. Yessiree, guts and limbs covered the blood red floor of the arena, every single inch of the black marketing fighting ring had been splattered with fresh gore. She was sure that she had even killed a couple of spectators during her span of unstoppable madness. There was also a part she nearly flashed her bare womanhood to Naruto when he lifted her upside down. Boy, was that embarrassing. Darn robes, it was the reason he had made her get underwear!

Not that she was complaining. Naruto didn't look away anymore when she showed him a little cleavage. Who knew the powers sexy lingerie was so effective?

__'Fun times',__ the girl grinned happily as she absently touched her healed stomach beneath the robes.

And guess what she was going to do with all that money? She was going to buy sexy underwear! The girl reaching into her cloak and tugged at the bra, Naruto turning red at the action. Seriously, this shit felt great on her boobs! Not to mention what unspeakable wonders it did to her lady bits downstairs!

Well, she would have to set some aside and save money for Naruto. He still needed to eat and drink and breathe, no matter how boring breathing was. His immortality only went so far, thank Jashin-sama her immortality went beyond that of his.

"So, where we headed now?" Hidan asked the blonde man that towered over her.

He paused in thought, staring at the sign that showed the closest path to Kusa and the one that led directly to Wave Country. "I'd like to think that Konoha's searching for me in the place they'd least expect me to go to. Besides, Father never paid attention that time he handed me my first Chuunin mission." Hidan looked at him questioningly.

"Remember? Son of Hokage?" He reminded her, though it wasn't a prideful tone he used, but a more informative one.

"Oh, right. Carry on." That was what Naruto liked about Hidan. She never gave a shit about his status as the son of the 'Fastest Man Alive' or the current strongest Konoha Shinobi.

"Well, my first Chuunin mission was a solo one to Wave Country." He elaborated, and retold his story to the silverette.

"I was assigned to assist a group of builders in Wave, to protect the, while they built a defensive wall around the country. During that time, bandits came by in droves, taking women and gold." Hidan grimaced at the thought. She could never imagine herself as some filthy bandit's fuck-toy, unable to kill herself due to her powers. Not even her ferocious spirit would stay up against that. Probably the only time she would curse immortality. And those were not even counting the fact that she would lose her virginity to some fucking rapist.

"At first, the head builder, who was the man I was staying with, Tazuna, thought that I wouldn't be able to stop them from repeating their actions." He shrugged, supposing that it was a rather difficult task to entrust your life to a ten year old that you had just met. "I disproved his worries by using my father's signature technique, the Rasengan, on the group that attacked us. Except I used the Oodama Rasengan instead of the normal one."

"Fuck." Hidan muttered, having witnessed firsthand the destructive capability Naruto's Rasengan held. Never again would she make an innuendo about testicles in the presence of the almighty Spiralling Sphere. She had taken the smaller version to the chest and it was certainly one of the things she did not want to experience again, a small number of things that she could count on one hand. The feeling of her skin being grinded off of her bones was... For a lack of a better word, uncomfortable. Very uncomfortable.

"Must have turned them all to a paste."

Naruto nodded, confirming her guess-cum-statement. "Needless to say, after that display, Tazuna trusted me to do my job after that." As they continued in their journey, Naruto followed on with the story. "I met his family after that incident. A house wife, Tsunami, her husband and a fisherman, Kaiza, and Tsunami's son, a little spirited boy by the name of Inari. They took me in like one of their own and I found myself a second family with them."

Hidan suddenly stopped, a contemplative look on her face. She remembered something she heard a while ago. Deciding to tell him what she had heard months ago from a few stray Jashin members, she faced Naruto who was looked at her expectantly, wanting to know why she had stopped.

"It might be a little too late to tell you now, but I'm pretty sure Wave's in some deep shit." She spoke with a rare seriousness, often not found on the grinning face of Death's number one soldier.

"What'd you mean?" Worry was obvious in his voice.

"A couple of guys told me that Wave was being finacially fucked over by some shitty cocksucking midget." She shouldered the bag of money and her scythe, the pike in her clothes clanking softly as she moved. "So don't expect to see the same place you saw how many years ago? Six?" He nodded, "Basically, don't get your hopes- What the hell?"

She paused, holding out a hand to block Naruto's tough chest, pointing with her other hand at the two men that were dressed in black armour, tied up against a tree. Judging by their heads, both were knocked out cold and were probably waiting for extraction.

"You think that's a trap?"

"Who the fuck knows," Hidan shrugged, "What I wanna know is who did that to them and if they want to bleed a bunch."

"Please take care of yourself." Naruto said to her before she skipped away, scythe sitting on her shoulder.

As he watched her bounce away, Naruto couldn't help but think back at the first of the nights they had spent together during their training by the riverbanks. Doing nothing but idle chitchat and watching the stars and moon had been surprisingly refreshing for Naruto.

* * *

__"Hey... Naruto?" Hidan asked as they basked in the silence of dusk, both lying next to the river Hidan had trained in. It was the day after they had gone and watched the match in the arena, choosing to start training in the night to prepare for the next tournament. Surprisingly, Hidan was, despite her mortality, dead on her feet, a rather impressive feat achieved by Naruto's harsh training.__

__"Yeah?" Naruto replied in kind, silently enjoying the heat Hidan provided during such nights. His finger was dipped in the river, twirling absently, forming ripples at every movement. Such nights were common, where they would enjoy the silence the world provided, occasionally starting conversation whenever a topic came into mind. Even the not too distant waterfall sounded nothing more than a trickle.__

__Naruto noticed that Hidan swallowed the lump in her throat and clenched her fist tightly.__

__"What do you think happens after we die?" Ah. He understood why she was so unnerved.__

__For all that Hidan was, brave, psychopathic, smug as hell and completely fearless of death, she actually was afraid of one specific thing.__

__It wasn't death, but what happened before and after death.__

__It might not have made much sense, and to be honest, Naruto didn't understand either when she had told him, but she specified, narrowed, it down.__

__What she would accomplish before death and if she would meet her mother afterwards. The girl wasn't stupid, she never once fooled herself into thinking that she would never die. Death was for all, and eventually she would catch you when you least expected it.____ Hidan had also figured out multiple things that could potentially screw her over.__

__Although Jashin-sama said that it wasn't a requirement, sacrifices were actually what kept Hidan's immortality going. Well, to a certain extent. As far as she knew, times when she had starved herself of bloodshed had caused regeneration to slow. So it was either that or some other unknown factor. __

__Eating healthy was also a good idea. Just because she was immortal didn't mean that she was free from getting diseases and what not. Suffering from malnutrition would make her significantly weaker and over eating would make her obese.__

__Anyone that could seal her away for all eternity without giving her the chance to reform? Avoid.__

__Her fears were realised when she fell head over heels for her blonde companion. Her dreams of settling down, shelving the scythe and pikes away, and raising a family -she knows, a fucking family!- could possibly be coming to fruition. To become the woman her mother was? Yes!__

__But reality hit harder than the volcano's eruption did. What if she outlived her children? What if her children hated her for what she had done in her 'younger' years, slaughtering people for no rhyme or reason? Ah, well, 'No problem!' She told herself. That could easily be solved by turning them into ____loyal followers of Jashin-sama____. Just her, Naruto and her sweet cult loving children together forever. They'd be the same age and live until the world blew itself apart.__

__No, that wasn't the fear she had. The fear was dying before any of that could happen. The prospect of not becoming a wife to the man she loved, a mother to the children tha____t____ would not be born. It was a fear common amongst the average person. Suddenly, she felt what it was like to fear death, to be human, to be__**_mortal_**__.__

__Then her thoughts branched out, expanding outwards to what happened after death. Oh Jashin-sama! She had reached multiple conclusions, the worst would probably be seeing her mother, the woman she would kill the whole world off for to bring back. W-What if Mama didn't love her for what she did in the Elemental Nations, that she was no better than her murderous father?! Her mother getting mad at her wasn't the problem, it was disappointing her, letting her down.__

__The very thought had made her weak, Naruto being forced to carry her limp body as she was feeling rather faint at the time.__

__He paused in contemplation, mulling ovee her words. "What do I think?"__

__"Mhm." She nodded once, hand inching over to his for comfort.__

__"I think the same way an aquaintence does. I met him during one of my missions, he was a bounty hunter, Spike was his name." Hidan's eyes widened when she felt his hand grab hers, sheltering her smaller appendage, "He told me once that his motto was 'Whatever happens, happens', that he went with ____'____the flow____'____."__

__Well that wasn't reassuring at all.__

__"What?!" Hidan, despite how good it felt,____pulled her hand away from his. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"__

__"I mean," He calmed her down by holding onto her shoulder, "Whatever we've done, we've done it. It's too late to change it. And for the future, if and when we die, well, we can't really tell or dictate what happens right?" The girl nodded, understanding his meaning. "So, whatever happens, happens. Understand?"__

__"Yeah... I get it." They lapsed into silence for a moment before Naruto broke it.__

__"Have you tried asking Jashin?"__

__"No." She sighed in frustration. "Jashin-sama doesn't know, or can't tell me."__

__"Well then, as the Sandaime Hokage once told me, 'To the well-organised mind, death is but the next great adventure."__

__"Hmm." She mused over the words from the fallen old man, one that struck fear into the hearts of Shinobi in the Second Shinobi War with his skills, earned from the tutelage from under both Senju Brothers.____"Say, what happened to ____the Sandaime?____"__

_"_You don't know?"__

_"_Do I look like I know much of anything?"__

__Naruto conceded with a soft smile.__

_"_He gave his life for my village's."__

__"____Huh. I'll be honest, I was going to make some kind of joke or something but now I'm thinkin' otherwise." Hidan admitted. __

_"_You're incorrigible."__

__Naruto shook his head amusedly, managing to distract Hidan from wallowing around in her thoughts with that one sentence. And everything was back to normal.__

_"_I don't know what that word means." Then s____he slid her hand across the mat, "T-Take my hand... I'm cold a-again." She instructed him to do so, hiding her blush and small smile with her other hand.__

__"Sure thing, Okusan (my wife)." Naruto joked, feeling shockingly comfortable with Hidan. His comfort zone had ____spread ____from Natsumi to Hidan, but not even he got this comfortable with Natsumi, being slightly formal with his little sister more than he did Hidan. To keep up appearances, he supposed. Wouldn't be good for Konoha to know that ____he and his sister loved each other in that manner____.__

__"Eh?! ____Idiot!____ D-Don't say that!"__

* * *

__"Narutoooo, helloooooo?!"__

"Huh? What?" Hidan cocked an eyebrow at him, hands on her hips.

"Daydreamin'? C'mon, I already interrogated those two, and they spilled the beans faster than my father's organs did when I split his-"

"-And what exactly-" He held up a hand to stop another one of her examples involving her gruesomely killing her father, "-Did you find out from them?"

"The midget guy, Gato, he hired a bunch of Ex-Kiri nin to kill some bridge builder?"

"Anything else?" He asked.

Hidan rubbed her chin, thinking for a moment.

"Hm, they said that they got beaten by a bunch of genin from Konoha. Some girl with red hair, a boy with hair that looks like a duck's butt and a little frightened pinky."

"I see... " Dread began to fill his bones, a feeling he got when worrying about people he cared and loved for. "... And they came out unscathed?"

Hidan snorted. "Not for long if the people Gato hired get to them first. Two of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. Momochi Zabuza and Kurosaki Raiga."

* * *

Natsumi growled as she and Sasuke dragged Kakashi's limp and chakra-exhausted body back to Tazuna's house. The old drunk stumbled back and forth, trying his absolute best to get everyone to the safety of his house. Sakura's whimpers and constant fidgets, fearful twitches at every little noise that occured on the dirt path to safety.

__"For fuck's sake!"__ Natsumi harshly whispered to their teammate. More specifically, the one who lagged behind and held her kunai shakily, quaking in fear. "Sakura, I will go back there and knock you out if you don't stop shivering at every little noise, so Kami help me." They had gotten out of Zabuza's clutches fairly well, the teens only recieving cuts and bruises running away. Kakashi had gotten most of the damage dealt to him, vice-versa to Zabuza as well. Both men were low on chakra and had sustained a lot of injuries during their short spar, one wanting to take the other's large bounty while another was doing his job and protecting his students. They all were lucky considering there was another person with them, but Zabuza told him not to interfere in the battle.

"W-We should have went ba-back first! Kakashi-sensei wou-would have be-"

"No. You are not the Jonin-sensei, you don't get to command anything. We're Genin and we follow what our Jonin-sensei says, the only objection to the rule is if it isn't logical in the least." Natsumi glared at Sakura. For someone that wanted to become the Hokage when she grew up, Natsumi was very serious and determined when her classes on __'How To Become A Good Leader'__ and __'For Idiots: Running A Country'__began. If one wanted to become a shinobi, one had to be a shinobi. None of that cowardly crap that Sakura was displaying.

The only one that Natsumi was fine with acting that way was Hinata, and she was actually efficient, if not merciful, in her fighting. Besides, the girl was adorable as all hell with that stutter she had.

"Man, oh man. You'd better buck up if you actually want to last as a ninja. Really, at this rate you're going to die if you keep this up." Natsumi continued, grunting as they dragged Kakashi along. Sakura squeaked, chasing after Tazuna, Natsumi and Sasuke.

* * *

Reaching the house, Sasuke turned to Natsumi. "Dobe, you know what to do?"

"Yeah, Teme, sending Gamakichi back to Konoha for help. A lot of help." Sasuke nodded as Natsumi vanished behind the house to summon the rather comedic frog, her orange cardigan following her movement. Tazuna knocked on the front door, waiting for it to open up.

"Hello- Oh, Father!" A beautiful woman in her late twenties appeared at the front door, looking expectantly at her father and the children behind him. "Are these the ninja that are here to help? Please, come in, come in." She moved aside, allowing the two Genins to enter the house alongside her father. Noticing that Kakashi was wounded, she directed Sasuke to the guestroom on the second floor, the boy lugging the older man up the stairs with slight difficulty. Sakura stood around, awkwardly doing nothing. Looking at the stairs of the house, where Sasuke was dragging Kakashi's body up, she noticed a pair of eyes glaring at her. Gulping, the girl scrambled to the kitchen where Tsunami was cutting vegetables at.

Perhaps it would do her some good to avoid everything and anything that would potentially harm her.

"You know what to do Gamaki-chan?" Natsumi held the scroll out and the tiny orange toad swallowed it whole despite it being larger than it was. The toad saluted his favourite summoner and sister figure.

"Hai, Natsu-nee. To me, Konoha's but a hop, skip and a jump away!" The little toad leaped towards the general direction of Konoha... very slowly. Natsumi grimaced at his atrociously slow speed, hopefully, help would arrive before they all ended up tasting the steel of Zabuza's massive cleaver, Kubikiribocho.

"... Might want to rethink your motto, Gamaki-chan."

* * *

(Back in Konoha, a whole night later.)

Leaping in through the window of the Hokage Tower, Jiraiya landed gracefully on the floor, his student looking up from the paperwork he was signing with care. Ever since he had missigned Naruto's admission slip to skip Genin entirely and go straight for the Chuunin Exams with a mismatched group consisting of two Genins, and again for his Tokubetsu Jonin admisson, Minato had begun to check the papers he was signing more carefully.

"Er, Minato, you might want to read this." Handing the blonde the slip of paper, he allowed Minato to read it.

* * *

__Yo, what's up Daddy. It's your little girl, Natsumi.__

__Er, we're kinda in a pickle at the moment, and we really, and I emphasise on 'really', need back up. Kakashi-senpai is down for the moment, but not to worry, the enemy is as well. It would be great if you could send one... Wait... Scratch that, two more teams to help us out.__

__No need to worry though, we're all safe. Unfortunately, 'we' extends to Sakura as well. Would have been great if she had been-__

__Ah, I'm getting distracted.__

__For now, we're doing fine... but don't be afraid to send us some help! Seriously! We're currently at our escortee's house. Y'know, that old meanie that could give that shriveled up bastard Danzo a run for his money, Tazuna. Did you know, Tazuna knows Nato-nii? Apparently Nato-nii helped them when he was ten! Crazy, I know.__

__Running out of space soon but I just wanted to say that I love you Daddy, and tell Mommy I love her too, and that I give her my kisses, you get them too Daddy.__

__Natsumi, Godaime Hokage in training.__

* * *

__P.S: Hentai-senin, if you're reading and you ignore it, choosing to go to a brothel like you did during our one month training trip, I will personally ensure that before Mommy and Daddy get you, your ass will be- (the letter ended abruptly due to the lack of space.)__

* * *

Minato set the letter back down onto the table and calmed himself. No use getting worried now, he could only assume the best for his daughter. He pressed the button on his desk, his secretary picking up a second later.

"Yes, hello Mira-kun... Yes, I'd like you to get Gai and Kurenai, as well as their Genins, to the office immediately... No, I don't need coffee at the moment, but thank you for asking. Thanks Mira-kun."

"What a first mission, huh? I remember my first mission..." Jiraiya grinned, recalling the good old days, the golden years as he had called them.

"Didn't know your memory was clear even after a hundred years, you old coot."

"Tsk, bratty as always. Oi, don't worry about 'lil Natsumi, alright? She can take care of herself."

"Yeah. I just want to go and help but-"

"-But you can't leave because you're the Hokage. Even some rules can't be broken. As Hokage, the village comes first, then everything else. Remember that, you agreed to it the day Sarutobi-sensei handed the hat to you."

"Sometimes I wish I wasn't the Hokage... Then I could have given more attention to Naruto and maybe he wouldn't have done what he did." Minato nodded to himself tiredly and began scribbling on two pieces of paper, writing the information for the mission down. Soon, a knock at the door stole both their attention.

"Come in."

The door was blasted off its hinges from a mighty kick. Minato sighed as Jiraiya clasp a hand on his shoulder, nodding before jumping back out the window. Just like the toads he specialised in, he was a slimy bastard.

"Hokage-sama! You called for us?!" Gai jumped into the room, posing dramaticallu alongside his similarly dressed student, Lee. Neji and Tenten sighed, following after them reluctantly. Behind them, Kurenai walked in, stepping over the door uncaringly. Having spent so much time with Gai had nulled her senses, choosing to ignore his bizarre attitude and workouts in favour of keeping her sanity intact.

"Reporting for duty, Hokage-sama." Kurenai nodded to the Hokage, her Genin entering behind her as well. Both teams got arranged as neatly as they could in the confines of the enclosed area.

"Lovely. Would you give me a second?" Pressing the intercomm, his assistant picked up again. "Hello? Mira-kun? Could you call a repair man?... Uh-huh, thank you very much." Gai had the decency to look abashed.

Minato looked back to them, folding his hands in front of himself. "Right, here are the mission details," He slid both Jonins a slip of paper, everything one needed to know about the mission. "You'll begin tomorrow morning. Am I clear?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama!" They all responded before leaving. Minato slumped back allowed himself to briefly wonder around in his thoughts. Mind free, his thoughts went to his endangered daughter and then to his run away son. Minato rubbed his eyes wearily and muttered sadly to himself.

__"Take care of yourself, Natsumi... I can't lose you too."__

* * *

"Concentrate your tiny little chakra pool to your feet, Sakura!" Natsumi yelled from the floor as the pink haired girl sailed back to the ground, gravity doing its job. "Ah... You didn't do it right."

Sakura growled, yelling back at the amused redhead. "You think?!" Sasuke sighed from his spot on the river. Itachi had thought him how to perform the tree climbing excersise, but hadn't had the time to teach him how to water walk, spending his time taking missions and helping the village out by guarding. The Uchiha's used to patrol at night, but since they were but three members now, many of the other Shinobi and even towns people took it upon themselves to assist Itachi in the night patrols. It was rather strange to even think so, but Sasuke felt that the village was more united ever since his family was but utterly decimated to himself, his mother and his brother. He had been thinking recently, but maybe what his brother said was true, maybe there was a reason for everything. But he hadn't figured out the reason why Naruto had-

"Oi, Saaaakuraaa-chaaan," Natsumi's melodical voice called out, taunted, really, the pinkette. "Your boyfriend is watching you make a complete fool out of yourself~!"

"Don't listen to her Sasuke-kun!" Sakura protested, "I just need one more try!"

"Good for you." He muttered back emotionlessly, glaring at Natsumi, who stuck her pink tongue out at him. Honestly, as much as he loved Natsumi, she had a very special ability to break his thoughts whenever she wanted to, maybe this was a same-age-surrogate-sibling thing. Getting back to water walking, he carefully treaded on the water, taking careful steps on the rippling water.

"Dobe?" He called from behind his shoulder to Natsumi who had ungraciously flopped down to the ground on her back. The girl waved her arm, her silent answer to his question.

"Why aren't you practising?" He asked.

"Mommy already helped me with both excersises." She yawned, "No need to train any further, especially with my chakra levels. Even if I try to do more, my chakra control won't improve." Sasuke nodded. Everyone knew about her status as the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi. Not to mention being an Uzumaki, in addition to being a Jinchuuriki of the strongest of the Tailed Beasts, her chakra levels were beyond humongous.

"Well, I'm taking a nap." She gave a two finger salute to Sasuke, who rolled his charcoal eyes, "Tell me when Sakura passes out from hitting the floor too hard."

A far away thud signified their pink haired team mate had fallen. And when there was no groan of pain like there normally would have, Sasuke looked back to Natsumi.

"Natsumi, Sakura-"

"Bah, I'll get her later."

* * *

"Ara, backup's here. They got here quick didn't they?" Natsumi nudged Sasuke, who tilted his head to get a look at who came to assist them. It was an impressive sight, with two Jonins, 'The Beautiful Green Beast of Konoha' Maito Gai, 'The Queen of Smoke and Mirrors' Yuhi Kurenai, as well as their Genins here to help them. A good mix of both combat and tracking to deal with the bandaged Ex-Kiri Shinobi since Zabuza loved to use the Kirigakure Jutsu and Mizu Bunshin to fight them. There would be no hiding from the Aburame's bugs, the Inuzuka's superior sense of smell or the Hyuuga's 'All Seeing' Byakugan eyes.

"Oh, look who it is." Sasuke smirked at the sight of the hooded teen, canines protruding out from his upper lips made him look like a wild dog and red markings on his face signified his clan. "Team Jacket is here, and your number one fan is right there."

"Fuck!" Natsumi snarled, "I don't need to deal with this shit now. I'm taking a hike." The girl got up, tip-toeing away from the approaching group. Sasuke's smirk grew into a smug smile when he saw Kiba start sniffing the air, the scent of Natsumi apparently catching his nose.

"Yeah, you better start running, he's caught your scent!" Sasuke broke his cool Uchiha character and cheered Natsumi on, the girl running like there was no tomorrow. "But you can't run forever!" He laughed as Natsumi gave him the middle finger before she vanished into the treeline.

* * *

"So, those little runts survived Zabuza and Raiga, huh." Hidan smirked from their spot on the branch. A perfect hiding spot as they were well hidden, yet could see the Genins from their spot through the open window. "Strange, I'm only counting eight Genins and two Jonins, we're missing one of each. They didn't die right? 'Cos if they did, Konoha's standards have dropped considerably." She sighed. Honestly, why bother having Shinobi if they weren't going to live past their fourteenth year as a person.

"Kakashi must have gotten injured fighting Zabuza, if what they're saying is true..." Naruto muttered to Hidan, having previously eavesdropped on ther conversation. Masking their chakra was quite difficult, seeing as both of them had quite a healthy amount, Naruto more than Hidan, who barely used hers at all. The only time she ever used chakra was to run on water or on walls, Naruto never having seen her use it for any Jutsus.

"You know these losers?"

"Yeah. Natsumi-chan is missing."

"Darn, I was hoping to cut her up."

"Natsumi-chan is my sister. And I love my sister." Fuck was she jealous. Oh, the day he said that to her would be the day they would go walking up the aisle, hand in hand. All prim and proper, dressed up in a blood red wedding dress, with frills! Oh how she loved frills! Then the piano would be played, each step towards the grinning blonde at the altar made her heart pound, rush with excitement! She could already hear the bells ringing and the vows being said, exchanged with each other, to be together for all eternity, immortals in love. Alas, now wasn't the time to get lost in her daydreams.

But right now, it hadn't happened yet. None of it. It would in the future, but not now. She didn't worry thought, she was a grown up, she could deal with the situation rationally. She could play nice for a while. Deciding to backtrack, Hidan gave a shaky grin in response.

"Hah, did I say cut? I meant... meet. Yes... '__meet'."__ The smile on her face told a different story to her words.

"Don't smile like that... No, seriously, stop it. You're creeping me out."

* * *

CHAPTER END.

AN 2: Hello friends! It is I, Urethane!

Greetings from Japan, Tokyo to be specific. I'm in a train now, er, been riding trains for around 4 hours already, it's been nice so far.

Er, quick update, won't be home until the 10th of June, that sucks. Means I can't write properly.

It's been hell writing this chapter. I had to rewrite it over and over again because I don't have a computer and I'm using Fanfiction's Copy and Paste Document function itself to write and I lose writings if there isn't any internet connection when I press save. So that blows. **Do note, any spelling or grammatical errors are partially due to not using a computer as well as incompetency.**

Er, took me three days to write out this whole chapter including this morning and afternoon. I hope I get more reviews for this one since I put waaaay more effort into this than I did any other.

So yeah, favourite and follow the story as well as the author, and please leave a review. It's kinda disheartening to see 1k followers but only 200+ reviews. There's very little interaction I guess, suggesting things for the story to continue or even OMAKE ideas are great!

That's about it. When I get back I'll be updating Under My Wing and Down To Cinders, both.

ALSO, PRAYING THAT I DON'T DIE IN JAPAN. SHOUTOUT TO EARTHQUAKES AMIRITE?!

**SHAMELESS SELF-ADVERTISING**.


	6. Confused Emotions

_**AUTHORS NOTE.**_

_Hello, it is Urethane here._

_This chapter? Not so much action. Sorry, that's for the next chapter where the Genins, Jonins, S-Ranked and Ex-Kiri's meet._

_This one was considerably harder to write since I couldn't decide who to write Natsumi meets in the forest. Either Haku or Hidan?_

_Eventually, Hidan won out because I wanted __**character development**__, and Haku's going to die anyways, so whoop-de-fuckin'-doo (Also because I want to alter my story from Canon at small events like these)._

**_(Those who have not read the chapter prior to the changes, feel free to skip this or even if you have, you can do so too. This is more of a note for future me to keep in mind.)_**

_Alright, so I went back and changed the ending of the chapter where Hidan and Naruto were talking. I'll be honest. I fucking hated what I wrote there. I realised that the reason why I was unable to write anything for so long was probably because of what was previously written in that space. It caused the two of them to be so awkward and tense around each other that the chemistry the two previously had turned into a fucking bomb in the next chapter, hence being unable to write. Also changed the fact that Hidan and Naruto DO NOT USE SUFFIXES FOR EACH OTHER FOR MULTIPLE REASONS._

_1) Even though I think Hidan is a masculine name, I think it fits a female version of him just as well since Hidan's attitude and personality remains the same. But adding a suffix behind it unironically just makes it sound bad. Really bad. Like, holy shit, **no**._

_2) I realised a long time after posting the chapter that Hidan would probably never call Naruto with a '-kun' because she knows she wouldn't do that. Not for him at least. Her personality just isn't that. What I wrote for her was nothing like the character I had in mind, so a big fuck up on my part. _

_Also, rereading it made me realise that I had Naruto playing some kind of 'jealous bofriend' card, which was another major fuck up on my part. So instead of having him be all sorts of jealous and upset that Hidan was meeting up with some stranger (Natsumi), I decided to make what was a cluster fuck of a paragraph that completely fucked up my writing into something cute and fluffy, but also deepened their relationship (what I should've originally done)._

_TAKE NOTES, FUTURE ME. I'M SICK OF MY OWN SHIT._

_Regardless, enjoy the chapter._

* * *

Natsumi sat upwards, eyes glazed over as she stared emptily into her reflection in the river, the water's surface calm and unmoving, looking very much like a mirror. It was times like these that she really felt alone. Without her big brother who was always there, able to make her smile without even trying.

The people around her didn't understand that, trying to be people they weren't in order to entertain her. Thankfully, she had recently found a good friendship with her godmother, Tsunade, and her assistant, Shizune, the apprentice acting like an older sister to the red head.

Shizune had taught Natsumi a few tricks about medicinal herbs, informing the attentive girl that certain plants could be used to make healing balms or even poisons. Natsumi had listened closely, wanting to learn all that she could. For what reason, Shizune didn't know, but she had a feeling that it had to do with a certain blonde brother.

Natsumi had also befriended Hinata, the girl with moon white eyes seeing her as a role model to get stronger and braver. Natsumi enjoyed Hinata's company and the bento sets she made for both of them for lunch. The pair were friends, not on the level of Sasuke and Natsumi, but were close nonetheless. Natsumi wouldn't allow Neji to bully the poor girl as and when he'd like, standing up for her when the older boy verbally abused the shy heiress.

Hearing the bushes that were behind her shuffling around, Natsumi stood up instantaneously, spinning around as she did so, kunai already in hand in preparation for attack and defence.

Wave was nearing the borders of Kiri, which explained Zabuza and Raiga, and that meant that she was near territory that was not friendly. Her Konoha hitai-ite was tied around her bicep, showing off her village allegiance, if this was someone that wanted to start trouble, they could certainly try.

She wasn't as weak as she used to be when Naru-nii had up and left. Weeks of non-stop training with Sasuke-baka, Itachi-nii, and even the one month trip with Jiraiya, had paid off tremendously. She had already learnt how to perform the Rasengan faster than daddy and Hentai-Sennin even did, although not Naruto, but none of them even knew that he could use the Rasengan in the first place. She did, however, use her Kage Bunshin to help act as shells while she moulded the chakra.

That stupid water balloon test had taken her approximately two full weeks of training to even burst, but it did help her learn how to spin her chakra in multiple directions. Her training was inhibited by the fact that she didn't know which way their chakra rotated naturally, and had to first figure out where it went to. The next test was simply, breaking a rubber ball. Since it was rubber was thicker and air was different from water, it emphasised power, a department in which Natsumi was not lacking in. The final step took around another week to learn, to combine both steps by spinning chakra inside a balloon without moving the balloon itself, ensuring that the user learned how to stabilise the sphere.

"Who's there?!" Natsumi demanded in her fiercest voice possible, "Show yourself!" which was also coincidentally the same she used when she was upset with Naruto. The stoic boy couldn't help but feel unnerved by how strikingly similar she reminded him of their mother. The bushes rustled some more and Natsumi tensed further, preparing to pick a fight or take flight.

"I'll have you know, I'm armed!" She warned, just in case it was a random villager wondering around, trying to escape Gato's tyranny. "My weapon might be small, but it'll hurt a lot when I stab you in the foot!"

Chuckles came from beyond the shrubs before someone spoke in an amused voice.

"Ara, what a feisty girl," A pale hand reached out from the bushes, pushing it aside to allow the speaker to pass through. Natsumi's eyes took in the figure's features as they stepped past the green leaves. "You wouldn't hurt an innocent woman like me would you?"

Dressed only in a set of black robes, the person was hooded, but was definitely a woman judging by the large chest –Natsumi unconsciously growled- and wide hips. A smile played on the woman's face, but she was unarmed. Natsumi still didn't let her guard up, knowing that Zabuza, well not so much him, and that Raiga guy were still prowling around, and who knew if they had other friends that would like a piece of Kakashi's bounty.

"Funny, that's what bad guys say before they attack people."

The woman reached up and pulled her hood back, revealing a beautiful and kind face, and shining silver hair that was combed back, amused violet eyes, much like her lilac ones, staring at her. A fang of silver hung from the side of her face, pinned back by a large mauve hairclip. Natsumi wasn't embarrassed to said that she found the woman to look beautiful, beyond average, definitely in the top three 'most beautiful women' she had ever seen so far in her life, above Tsunade –sorry, baa-chan!- and beneath her mother, snagging an impressive second place.

"I assure you, child, I am no bad guy." Fingers were crossed, hidden behind her back.

"Who're you?" Natsumi lowered her weapon subconsciously, not wanting to hurt such a pretty and –seemingly- innocent lady.

"Why, I'm just a holy woman wondering around the Elemental Nations, trying to spread the word of my fair and divine lady, Jashin-sama, accompanied by my…" She smiled slyly, as if concealing a grin from breaking out onto her beautiful features, "…dear boyfriend."

Natsumi muttered to herself, trying to recall anything about a 'Jashin', "Jashin? I can't say I've heard of her…" Hidan nodded.

"Exactly, that's the reason why I'm trying to spread my lady's name, to bring her back to her days of former glory and respect!"

"Oh, so… You're like a nun?" The woman pondered over her words, humming in thought.

"Well," She shrugged, "I wouldn't say 'nun', more like a prophet or a preacher." She grinned playfully, "Why? Would you like to be a part of Jashin-sama's group?"

"Er, no thanks," Natsumi gently rejected her offer, "I'm not really the religious type." Deciding to change the subject before the woman could try to convince her to convert, "So, where's your boyfriend?" She slipped the kunai back into her waist pocket, looking around for anyone else to come wondering out of a bush.

The woman smirked wirily, "Who knows what he's doing," She hid a chuckle behind her dainty hand, shaking her head, "That man is mysterious and cold, the very polar opposite of me. Hah~!" She sighed lovingly, eyes seemingly in a trance, "But really, he's just a sweetheart trying to act all cool to impress me." She gushed, her lady-like appearance replaced with happiness, "He's very protective of me, and wouldn't even let me talk to other men without asking me to take care of myself." The woman blushed faintly, but it was very prominent due to her porcelain skin.

Natsumi couldn't help but feel giddy for the woman, happy that her relationship was doing well, as if they had suddenly bonded and were now friends sharing stories. Whoa, this was weird. Maybe she needed to hang out with girls more often instead of with Mr. Freeze, Uchiha Sasuke.

Wait, was it because she wanted to see herself as happy as the woman before her when Naru-nii proposed to her during her reign as the Godaime Hokage, after she had begun changing the laws for siblings in the same clan to get married?

The woman strode through the mist, slowly walking with grace and poise that Natsumi couldn't help but feel slightly jealous at. This woman, so perfect in all the right ways… She wanted to be like that, to be more womanly. She frowned at her chest, or rather the lack of, hoping that puberty would kick in soon.

"Sorry," Natsumi nearly palmed her forehead, realising that she had forgotten to introduce herself, something a Hokage should have done at the start of a meeting. Well, then again, those were diplomatic mission and were standard protocol; she never learned anything about what to do when encountering a pious person, "Uzumaki Natsumi, at your service!" She jabbed a thumb at herself, grinning proudly, "Current genin in Team Seven, and future Hokage of Konohagakure."

The woman broke out into trilling laughter, Natsumi following along, knowing that the woman was laughing at her enthusiasm and not at her dreams. Wiping the tear that had formed on her eyes through the laughter, the woman smiled equally as large, bowing lowly as she began introducing herself to Natsumi.

"Lovely to meet you, Natsumi-chan. You're free to call me…" A mad and cruel grin appeared on her face which went unseen by the shocked Natsumi due to the woman's low bow, spoiling her image of an angelic beauty, "Sister Hidan."

* * *

Gato's men, the two mercenaries kicked the door open, revealing the scene of an injured Zabuza lying on a bed, Haku tending his wounds and an emotionless Raiga standing near the door way.

"Tsk, I pay you half of the money upfront and now you've gone and gotten yourself beaten up." The man sneered, his eyes glinting unhappily behind his glasses, "What the hell am I paying you for if you can't do your job."

Zori and Waraji rushed forwards to attack the injured Zabuza, Raiga doing nothing to stop them, but Gato snapped his fingers, halting their actions, wanting to question Zabuza first. Making a move towards Zabuza, the man reached out, about to grab the injured man, not noticing that Haku's fist had clenched up.

"I wanna know, just what the hell you plan to do-" His wrist was dislocated instantly, a thumb brutally pushing the bone out of the socket in one single press.

"Do not touch Zabuza-sama." Haku muttered coldly, his feminine appearance in a fury.

The man screamed, backing up and clutching at his limp arm, his two bodyguards went again, this time attacking the younger androgynous male, swinging their fists.

They blinked and found their blades at their throats.

"I think you should leave." Raiga suggested and Gato growled before stomping out of the house, pride ruined. His two loyal men scampered after him when Haku dropped their swords to the ground, allowing them to retrieve it while he went back to tend to his master.

* * *

"Fuck!" Gato cursed as Waraji popped his wrist back into his socket, "Gah! That fucking little shit! When they're done fighting the shinobi, get the boys and kill them, they'll be too tired to fight back and will be easy pickings."

The two nodded eagerly, wanting to add the head of Zabuza and Raiga to their name, as well as take their swords as their own.

"Boss, we should head back, should probably get a doctor to check on your hand."

The trio walked away, not noticing the man that slowly strutted out from behind the house, blue eye gleaming with interest from underneath his spider mask, one taken from a Kumo BOLT member Hidan had killed on the way to Wave. Kumo must have sent scouts to search for him, perhaps capture him in order to get a bargaining chip over Konoha and his father, but the man hadn't expected Hidan to appear behind him, or her scythe, which entered his back and exited from his chest, leaving the man to crawl away pathetically, unable to escape a blood-gurgling death.

A faint smile grew underneath his mask, recalling the memory of his little sister training with Sasuke nearly two days ago. Then he slowly walked down the dirt path, heading back towards where he and Hidan had set up camp at, speaking to himself as he did so, "Let's see how much you've improved while I've been gone, Natsumi-chan… You're going to be put in situations no Genin should get into, just how will you fair?" The dream of becoming the next Hokage was no joke to the girl, and Naruto wanted to see if she truly had the values and virtues to be worthy of the seat held by the greatest of Shinobi-kind.

Would she put family or country first?

Hah! Knowing his little sister, the growing girl would definitely find a way to save both her big brother and her country.

* * *

At their temporary hideout consisting of a small room drilled out in the side of a hill using a Rasengan, Naruto leaned out of the way as Hidan's pike buried itself hilt deep into the wall where his head once was.

"No! A-Absolutely not! I will not be stripping for you! Hentai!" Hidan protested, covering her clothed chest. Naruto had recently come up with the idea of testing a new seal out, one that had never been tried before and he wanted to use it on Hidan due to the fact that the seal was created specifically for her in mind.

It was to paint sealing scrolls onto a person in order to keep items on their body. It wasn't used for many reasons. One: Important items could be taken off a killed body. Two: Important items could be lost if the body was completely obliterated. Three: No one wanted to test something - that sucked items into some unknown place where time was frozen indefinitely - onto their limbs, where said limbs could have side effects.

The reasoning he wanted to put it on Hidan was because that she could keep her weapons with her at all times without carrying around her bulky and easily identifiable scythe on her back as well as pikes inside her robes. He aimed to create two seals on her palms to easily summon her pikes while use the one on her chest to seal her scythe in. Something that they had figured out was that during a spar, Naruto had accidentally chopped her arm off and disintegrated it with his unique Katon jutsu. After a little panic attack on his part, Hidan told him that it was no big deal, waving his concerns off telling him that it would regrow. Soon, whole arm, scars and all grew back, a rather crazy sight to see muscle slowly forming, bones rapidly growing before skin enveloped the whole thing, making it look good as new.

It was at that point that Naruto began thinking. He asked her if he could test something and Hidan allowed him to do so. Using the permanent ink used in Fuuinjutsu, Naruto paint a tiny dot on the tip of her finger, on that was easily visible to the naked eye. And then he destroyed her arm again, like he had done so before. As soon as her arm regrew, the dot was still there. It was at that point Hidan informed him that Jashin had forgotten to tell her that she could allow anything to stay on her body as long as she wanted it to be there, which meant that Hidan could get rid of the scars her father and the Jashinist -she had killed- had left her as a child and teen, before she had become immortal.

Back to the situation at hand…

As much as she loved the fact that he had thought about her, specially developing a seal just for her, she was NOT going to do what he asked of her.

Which was to take off her clothes.

She wasn't going to lie. Hidan already had multiple mental talks with Jashin-sama on how to make herself more confident when she wanted to make her move on the stupid blonde, to bolden herself up in order to take their relationship –whatever 'their relationship' consisted of, including Hidan's many delusions of marriage- to the next level. While alone, taking off all of her clothes was no big deal, but now, in front of the real Naruto, not an imagination in her head, was making her nervous as hell.

Why could she flash him but not strip for him? She concluded that it was one of those in 'the heat of the moment' kind of things.

Mask cast to the side of the floor, his eyebrow rose at the insinuation that he was a pervert, "Hentai? You're the one who flashes- Okay, never mind." He relented, nodding, "Then let me rephrase my question: Will you allow me to paint seals on your palms and in the centre of your chest?" Naruto asked, walking over to the wall and ripping her pike out.

"I still don't understand why you need it on my chest." Hidan scowled, pointing her pike at him. Naruto sighed.

"I would be fine with putting it just on your palms, but the seals on your palms can only hold so much." He pointed to the scythe lying on the ground, "That will take a bigger seal, and since your chest is usually uncovered, you can summon your scythe from there easily."

'**I suggest you go for it Hidan,' **Jashin whispered tenderly in her mind, **'It will certainly help you cross that bridge you fear so much now rather than later. Not to mention that those seals could prove useful in battle...'**

"Fine." Her red cheeks inflated, still rather reluctant to take her robes off. Grabbing the knees of her robes she pulled it upwards, showing Naruto her pale and slender legs and then her black lacy underwear. Heat was emanating from her face as she slowly removed her cloak, showing Naruto her underwear clad body.

"You're really red." Naruto commented as he picked up his brush, dipping it into the bottle of ink he placed at the side. Hidan huffed, "I'm sitting her barely clothed with a pervert about to paint my boobs, of course I'm embarrassed."

He scoffed, rolling his eyes, two habits he had picked up from Hidan appearing, "If it's any consolation, I think you look…" It was painfully clear to Hidan that his observant blues eyes made themselves known that he was taking in her body entirely, this being the first time having seen her lower half. Hidan waited for the awkward compliment to come out of his mouth, but instead of uncertainty, he said confidently, "Beautiful."

Hidan, still looking away, bit her lip painfully to hide the smile that wanted to slide onto her face. Compliments from Naruto made her heart begin tap-dancing in her chest, her blood rushing to her head, making her feel giddy.

While distracted by his compliment, Hidan didn't notice that Naruto had already brought an ink filled brush to her chest.

"Ah! Cold!" Hidan cried, but dare not move, seriously wanting this thing on her chest. She had to admit that carrying her scythe and pikes around was rather tiring or detrimental while doing Shinobi tasks. Escaping or chasing after people meant that running through thick and dense forests was a strict no-no, having been knocked down to the ground while jumping from tree to tree from branches that jutted out, pulling on her scythe.

The brush seemed to rove around in the valley between her breasts, starting and stopping at random intervals. Each time the brush left her skin was to be re-dipped into the ink or to move on to the next kanji. Hidan's eyes flirted down to Naruto's, realising that his eyes were solely concentrated on his brushwork, ensuring that nothing went wrong when they tested it out. Hidan was both happy that he cared so much about her safety, yet slightly offended that he wasn't paying any form attention to her globes.

"There." Naruto slid the brush into the jar of ink, standing up. He had finished it in about ten minutes, and was hard pressed to say that doing so was incredibly difficult. Not because the seal was hard to make, but because Hidan's breasts were taking up nearly three quarters of his vision. His eyes did take a few peeks at her cleavage, but it wasn't his fault, honest. How could he possibly fault himself for being attracted to Hidan's chest? He might've been considered cold back in Konoha and even now, but he was still a man.

"Well, let's see if it works." Bending down, Naruto grabbed Hidan's scythe, twirling it in his hands easily, spinning the large weapon behind his back before clutching it tightly, and stopping it in its tracks.

Naruto poked the hilt of the scythe against the dried seal before instructing Hidan, "Okay, now get some blood on the seal and do what you'd do for a sealing scroll."

Biting the skin of her thumb, Hidan dripped but a drop of it onto her chest, where it met skin, ink and steel, before forming the hand sign that she had used countless times. With a poof, a cloud of smoke later, her scythe was gone, sealed into her chest.

"Fuck, that's some cool shit." She nodded, looking downwards and admiring the tattoo she had gotten, completely forgetting that Naruto was still in front of her. Realising that she was going to be late when meeting Natsumi if she didn't leave now, Hidan quickly grabbed her cloak and made a break for the exit.

"Where are you going?" A perplexed Naruto asked, "You still haven't gotten your palm seals!"

"Can I get those when I-Ugh!-" She grunted as she begun wearing her cloak, stumbling around the cave comically, not even slowing down for a second, "-Get back? Trust me, I'll be fine! I'll return at night!"

Naruto watched as Hidan left the cave, a smile tugging at his lips. Shrugging, the amused blonde packed up his kit into his backpack and went to practise a new technique he was busy crafting. Just like she said, he trusted Hidan to stay safe on her own, unconsciously wishing for time to speed up.

* * *

Lying on the grass where she had met the woman nearly a whole two days ago, Natsumi waited patiently for the voluptuous holy woman to return. It was crazy, how fast she had managed to befriend people, strangers she had just met. Part of the charisma and charm she adopted from her father and mother. That was why daddy was such a good Hokage, his charisma made people just want to listen to his word.

Over the course of the two days, Natsumi had forged a friendship with the woman. Hidan had built up her confidence about her not-so-feminine body, telling Natsumi that her own breasts only began growing when she was fifteen, three years away from Natsumi's age. She had also shared stories about her travels with Natsumi, who wanted to listen to her stories about the places beyond Fire Country. Hidan told Natsumi all about the things she had seen crossing the Elemental Nations. The poor priestess had been attacked endlessly by Shinobi for no rhyme or reason, some wanted to rob her, and some wanted her body. Luckily for her, she had managed to escape by the skin of her teeth when they were distracted.

Hidan failed to mention that they were distracted when a pike went through their throats or by a scythe cleaving limbs off.

Natsumi shivered at the thought of being raped and had been scared when Hidan said that she had been assaulted, hoping that before she completed her story, she got off scot-free. For the little redhead, no one was ever going to touch her. Her hands gripped the soft grass tightly, ripping a few of the thin green spikes out of the dewy grass. She was her Naru-nii's and her Naru-nii's only.

Soft footsteps indicated Hidan's return for their daily chat. Since the woman was considered both a nun and an elder sister in Natsumi's eyes, she had begun calling her 'Hidan-nee', much to the delight of the silverette.

"Good morning, Natsumi-chan." The woman smiled, pulling her hood back as she came out of the trees. "How are you today?" She made her way to Natsumi, who was lazing under the perpetually cloudy and grey skies.

"I'm good, Hidan-nee." The girl replied, "You?"

The beauty sighed and Natsumi leaned upwards, propped up by her elbows. "I… I'm not too sure." The woman rubbed her eyes, emotionally conflicted, "I might've had a small, tiny, fight with my beau. And I… I don't think he understands me too well." Natsumi was surprised at her words. Reaching over to the woman who had sat down next to her on the grass and giving her a big hug, pressing the side of her face into Hidan's large bust, hoping to cheer the woman up. Hidan smiled softly, stroking the girl's hair gently.

At first, she was annoyed at how the girl had Naruto's love. But after such a short time, if she were to be honest with herself, Hidan had gotten attached to the girl. She was cute and funny, and wasn't that annoying of a person as thought the little redhead would be. She could understand why Naruto loved the little girl so much. She was exuberant and lively, sharing her dreams of the future with the silverette, befriending Hidan despite being complete and total strangers.

The girl spoke with face still attached to her chest, "Don't worry Hidan-nee!" Leaning out, she grinned at the woman, showing Hidan her tiny fist. "If your boyfriend hurts you, tell me and I'll kick his butt all the way to kingdom come!" Hidan blinked at the sight of Natsumi grinning at her and covered her mouth, eyes slightly wet.

A little girl with short brown hair and purple eyes was behind the girl, looking rather identical to Natsumi with the grins on their faces. Both of whom were jubilantly sharing their dreams with Hidan, people they both weren't exactly familiar with.

She saw herself or rather, herself when she was a little girl, in Natsumi.

Rubbing away the tiny droplets of tears that sat on her eyelashes, Hidan spoke softly, wondering why she was trying to get love advice from a girl four years younger than her. "Thank you Natsumi-chan. But he didn't hurt me, he would never dream of hurting me." She rubbed her tummy where he had drilled a hole through before. Natsumi misunderstood her action, mistaking it for something else.

"Oh my god." She gawped at Hidan's hand, "Are you pregnant? Did he run away? Give me his name," The little spitfire roared angrily, "I'm gonna kill him!"

"No!" Hidan raised her hands, stopping her before the girl could go on a roll. "I haven't even kissed him on the lips for Jashin-sama's sake!" Jashin scoffed, Hidan shushed her. "That's the thing. I haven't kissed him yet and I don't know how to… How do I put this? Kiss him without making our relationship difficult."

"Wait, isn't he your boyfriend? Shouldn't you guys already have, I'unno, made out or something."

Hidan coughed awkwardly at the thought of mashing lips with Naruto violently, "Well, I may have over exaggerated a little. He's more of a… Well, a crush." She scratched the side of her head awkwardly.

Through grit teeth, Natsumi could only ask one word.

"What?!"

"Er," She looked away from the twitching eyes of Natsumi, "He's not my boyfriend?" The hairs on Natsumi's neck bristled. "Wait, wait! I did kiss him on the cheek once though, that has to count for something right?"

Natsumi palmed her own forehead as well as Hidan's, ensuring her older sister understood how stupid that was. After getting over her big sister's stupidity, Natsumi asked her about the problems. "If you don't mind me asking, what do you mean 'your crush'," She gave Hidan a look, making the woman look away bashfully, "Doesn't understand you?"

"I'm in love with him, and he's not in love with me. A problem very simple, yet so frustratingly difficult." She frowned, her fist clenching tightly in frustration around her robes. "I could've kissed him on the lips just now, but I feel like that would've made our current relationship as friends to be strained and uncomfortable. Not what I want."

She chuckled, softly and bitterly, pissed off at herself for being so pathetic. "I want him to kiss me back whenever I do! I don't want to be left heartbroken or disappointed because he doesn't respond to my affection, because he doesn't feel the same for me. I won't allow my heart to break for the first time, not from the man I know I'll be with for the rest of my life." She had to stifle tears from coming out like some pathetic fan girl that didn't get her way. Hidan reassured herself over and over that eventually she'd get Naruto, but rejection was… rejection would definitely be worse than death, in her opinion.

"Hidan-nee, do you really like this guy?"

Hidan chuckled at her words, giving the girl a knowing smile. "I think you'd love him too if you had met him, Natsumi-chan."

"Then, if you really do like him, I suggest you go slow and start first by going on a date with him. Doesn't have to be romantic or anything, just go and have fun. Boys don't have to ask the girl out you know? A lot of fan girls ask my best friend out, asking him if he would go out with them to picnics or parks. Except y'know, he's a cold hearted, frigid bastard and rejects them every time. That's why he's my best friend."

"Hahahaha!" Hidan laughed loudly, eyes staring at the place where someone was waiting for her to come back. "Thanks Natsumi-chan. I think I'll do that."

"Remember, you have to be subtle with everything you do." Natsumi nodded to her own words sagely, "You'll have to get your crush into your trap by making him like you, make his heart yours! When he's too far into the cage, that's when you lock the door and catch his heart!"

"Calm down, ya little love guru," The older woman grinned, "I'll take that all into consideration. Maybe I'll finally make him mine… Say, how do you know so much about all this stuff? You try'na win over your emo friend?"

"Wh-What?!" Natsumi spluttered, waving her hands negatively, face on fire. "Ew! No! I already love someone else!"

"Ara?" Hidan leaned into her face, waggling her eyebrows playfully. "Want to share it with me?" She teased.

"Hidan-nee!"

"Just tuggin' your leg, kiddo." Hidan snorted, before she turned serious again. "Hey, look… I just want'cha ta know that, even though it's only been a few days, I already love you like the baby sister I never had, and I'll protect you with my life, yeah?" Hidan hugged the girl, who returned it fiercely. Family always was important to the girl, probably the most important thing in her life.

"I love you too, my silly big sister."

* * *

"Kakashi-senpai?" Natsumi prodded the man's back, to which the masked Jonin turned around with an eye smile, facing his goddaughter.

"Hai, Natsumi-kun?"

"Are we going to be fighting?"

"I can only assume so," The man nodded, "I want you to be on guard and protect your teammates at all costs. Those who break the rules are scum-"

"-but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum. Got it." She nodded, the words she had heard so long ago engraved into her heart. Everyone who knew Kakashi and his motto did find it slightly hypocritical that the man still yearned for the day that Naruto would return, his parents and Natsumi as well.

"Alright, teams, let's head out to the bridge. Hinata, Tenten, can you stay behind and protect Tazuna's family?"

"Hai!" Both girls nodded. Hinata's courage was boosted when she saw that Natsumi's face was hardened and ready for battle. She would prove that she wasn't just a scared girl, she was the heiress of the Hyuuga and she would prove it!

"Alright, Lee, Neji, Sasuke, Natsumi, Kiba," The pre-teens stood up straight upon being called, each with varying looks on their faces. Both Neji, Lee and Natsumi were calm and ready, Sasuke was smirking slightly with his arms crossed and Kiba had a mad grin on his face, eager to prove himself to Natsumi as the alpha male. "You guys are our front line combatants alongside Gai and I. Kurenai will be taking Shino and Sakura to protect Tazuna."

"Hai!"

* * *

"Are we ready?" Raiga asked, slightly sneering over his shoulder at his newly recovered teammate. The man was itching to kill someone, after a week of staying his hand from his blade, he was getting jumpy. Zabuza grit his teeth beneath the bandages at Raiga's expression, the shame from losing to Kakashi still fresh in his mind and body. His honour had been wounded and he'd have to fix that by removing Kakashi's head and mounting it on his wall.

"Yeah. Haku," The boy stood up straighter, staring at his master with obedience from behind his mask. "You'll take whoever you can out of the equation while Raiga and I handle Kakashi and whatever back up he has."

"By your word, Zabuza-sama."

* * *

_"Naruto?"_ Naruto didn't miss the affectionate way she had said his name. That was certainly strange. He hadn't heard Hidan use that tone in the months he got to know her.

Caught off-guard by the tone she had used, Naruto uncharacteristically stuttered.

"Y-Yes, Hidan? Can I help you?" He coughed, trying to hide the fact that he had stumbled over his words.

"Nah," She smiled, her full, pink lips pulling apart to reveal the pearly whites she had on her upper jaw, "Jus' wondering if we were leaving soon." Naruto couldn't help but notice how much prettier she looked without a deranged grin.

Wait... Had he said that before? He couldn't recall. Either way, she definitely looked better.

It probably also helped that she wasn't disembowelling bandits with her bare hands, throwing her head up into the sky and screeching a horrifying war cry at the top of her lungs to intimidate men twice her size.

But that was just Naruto's opinion.

"We'll be leaving soon. Though we have to wait for those from Konoha to depart on the bridge first before we can enter in. Since Raiga and Zabuza are probably already awaiting them at the end of the bridge, we can be sure that they won't be behind us when we enter."

"Cool, cool..." She trailed off before her smile turned mischievous, "Just now... did you stutter?"

"No." Naruto narrowed his eyes at her, "I did not."

Hidan couldn't keep the full blown grin from spreading across her face as she played with his mask.

"Oh Jashin-sama, you totally fuckin' did." She laughed, but much like her smile it wasn't scary, menacing, threatening or downright insane. It was a beautiful trilling noise that made Naruto's heart -or was it hearts?- twist and made the butterflies in his stomach flutter.

"You're going to hold this over my head, aren't you?" He sighed, allowing her to wear one of his many masks.

"Yes." She giggled, her laughter reverberating in Naruto's mask, "Yes I am."

* * *

Chapter End.

* * *

_Hope you enjoyed the chapter._

_If not, review why you didn't and tell me that my writing skills are garbage._

_Or not, you can also not do that and choose to write nice things._

_SHOUTOUT TO EVERYONE WHO REVIEWED THE LAST CHAPTER, THANK YOU SO MUCH! SO GLAD THAT MY TIME SPENT ON HOLIDAY IN JAPAN, WORKING ON THE LAST CHAPTER DIDN'T GO TO WASTE! SO MANY NICE REVIEWS, AHHH!_

* * *

Preview for the Next Chapter: **Get Mad.**

* * *

_Rage, fury, anger, hatred. They broiled beneath the surface of her skin, waiting to burst out and to consume her big sister's killer._

_"**You killed my nee-chan… Hidan-nee is dead because of you."** A blanket, smothering and heavy clouded the area much like the Kirigakure no Jutsu, and it brought a masked Haku to the ground kneeling. Holding onto his thin and feminine neck, Haku began choking hard on the power that radiated off of Natsumi, orange and red glowing from her body._

_"Ghcck!" In an instant, Haku found himself hoisted up into the air by Natsumi's one hand, one that was enclosed around his mask._

_"**I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!"**_


	7. Get Mad

Hello all. It's been a while, almost a year, since I last updated this particular story of mine. Can't say that I've been busy, honestly since I've been on holiday for like six months. And no, I had access to the internet and the computer throughout my holiday. Trust me, it's not that I didn't want to write, more like I couldn't.

Whenever I started to write, I just became so self-aware of what I was doing. What would usually take me a few hours to do now took days and weeks and months. Writing for my other stories was also a pain because I'd write one thing in one story and when I changed to another to work on it, I'd start thinking that I'd written the very same thing in the next story. The scrapped versions of this chapter would keep coming back, forcing me to check if I had added it in by accident and it drove me up the wall.

Writing my stories became increasingly confusing and annoying, to the point where I found it to be a chore. I don't want it to be a chore. I like writing! I do! But I've just lost the spark and will to do so. Maybe it'll come back to me in the future, or maybe it won't.

**(This chapter will probably be up for revision, much like my previous chapters (check back for re-edits). Mainly because I legitimately don't think that I've written well for this at all...)**

But enough of my ranting. Tell me how you guys feel about it. I don't like it. I wouldn't blame you if you didn't like it too. I'm sorry. I'll try my best in the next chapter.

* * *

Having stopped on the shelter that stood some distance away from the mouth of the bridge, Team Konoha rest momentarily. The Genin chatted amongst themselves while their Jonin sensei's discussed about the rearrangement of the group. Tazuna was amongst them, shuffling a deck of cards before handing two cards each to Kiba, Lee, Shino and Sasuke.

"What numbers do you green-nosed brats have?" Tazuna asked in a lazy drawl, "If you've got twenty one, you win."

The four younger boys shot discreet glances to each other after taking a peek at their card before they nodded in synchronisation.

"Any of you want to draw more cards?" They shook their heads and Tazuna smiled cockily, thinking that he'd won. "Alright, turn 'em so I can show you how a real winner does it."

Flipping over his own cards, Tazuna proudly showed off a ten and a queen, indicating that he had gotten a twenty.

The boys flipped their respective hands over, showing off their cards that consisted of every single king and ace which would number to twenty one, effectively beating Tazuna.

"Wh-Wha... How..." Tazuna seemed to sober up immensely at the sight of the four winning hands, shown to him by the proud boys.

"Uwoooh!" Lee whooped, punching the air happily, "The eternal springs of Youth have granted us this victory!"

"Beginner's luck." Sasuke smirked, flipping his hand over and returning it to Tazuna. The man accepted the cards with a blank look on his face that hid his inner embarrassment.

As Shino and Kiba did the same, the images on the faces of the cards shimmered and changed, the Genjutsu placed on them vanishing and revealing their original forms - assorted numbers that would've lost to Tazuna's twenty. Lee handed his own one in, grin still wide, however his hadn't changed at all. Very much so considering his inability to use Genjutsu. It seemed as though he had won through pure luck.

The boys collected their winnings (Tazuna's broken pride) and began to chat idly amongst each other to pass the time.

"Kiba, where is Akamaru?" Lee asked, having finally noticed the Inuzuka lacking his canine partner.

"We were testing out a new technique and Akamaru accidentally broke his front paw after we failed. So I asked sis to take care of him while we went to Wave for this mission." Lee nodded, giving Kiba a thumbs up for trying despite his failure and wished him luck in his next attempt.

Meanwhile with the trio of Jonin, Kakashi had realised that he had been too quick to group the Genin together in a single team while he and Gai too the front lines. Up against opponents who could fade in and out of the battlefield, the kids were bound to be in a lot of danger were Zabuza to target them.

They didn't exactly know or had worked all that well with each other either -so they probably knew little of each other's abilities and techniques- were more than likely of striking each other in the obscured battlefield than they were to hit Zabuza or Raiga.

Kakashi decided that the previous assault group would break back up into their original teams. Neji and Lee would provide support for Gai while Natsumi and Sasuke returned to Kakashi. While Gai had a tracker on his own team, Kakashi felt the need to add Kiba onto the team -no matter how much Natsumi disliked the boy- since he could provide them with his ability in sniffing out foes through the mist. Undeniably a useful skill in such an occasion.

With a clap of his hands, Kakashi got the attention of the Genin.

"Alright, upon further discussion, your sensei's and I are going to split the assault group up." He told them the details of the new teams before the teens nodded in agreement. It did make much more sense than just clumping them all together and guessing that they had each other's backs. Lee and Neji knew how each other fought, same went for Natsumi and Sasuke. But neither pairs were really capable of watching each others back, especially with Neji's constant scorn for those he felt were lesser than him and Natsumi's -at times- explosive attitude when it came to annoying teammates.

"If there are no questions, we'll be moving out in a minute." Kakashi's eye closed as he smiled, "So prepare to leave soon." The teens nodded before returning to their chattering, trying to finish their conversation before they had to move out. Visible to the experienced Jonin, some of them were trying hard to distract themselves from the jittery, nervous feelings that often came before combat. It was a crawling sensation that Kakashi was familiar with, having lived and gone through a war, he could immediately pinpoint the signs that made their skin itch.

Kakashi closed his heavy-lidded eye and ran his fingers over the metal plate of his headband that hid his other eye. Even with a hard layer over it, Kakashi always seemed to be able to feel the scar that marred the left side of his face. Even though the memory was long in the past, he never forgot the short burst of fear and fright when the shinobi slashed his eye out.

He had Obito to thank for saving his life. Twice actually. His and Rin's deaths had left a bitter taste in his personality for a long time, but a small, stoic, blonde boy had snapped him out of his funk, reminding him of the life he had been given by his childhood friend.

"Yo, Kakashi-senpai." Natsumi called out as she made her way over to her teacher's side. The man snapped out of his memories, throwing a smile to Natsumi. Speaking of Obito, he wondered if some part of him had reincarnated into Natsumi considering how identical their attitudes and personalities were. "How do you think this'll play out?"

"Well..." In the past few weeks of being exposed to the harsh, outside world that waited for them beyond Konoha's walls, it became glaringly obvious to Kakashi that Natsumi's ability to lead was growing. The lessons Minato-sensei had taught her regarding leadership had reared their heads proudly, allowing her to act and think coolly in tense situations. Her tenacity and fearlessness, taking command of their little group while he had been knocked out, even in the face of certain danger, showed that she would become a capable Hokage in the future.

"Hopefully, when it comes down to it I hope we don't actually have to do any fighting." Kakashi hummed as he stared out at the foggy bridge. The lone eye narrowed as he scanned what little he could, "But I have a feeling that things are going to get messy."

"Kakashi!" Gai called out, his students standing next to him. "We're ready to move out!"

Kakashi sighed.

"Come on, Natsumi-kun. We've got a bridge-builder and his bridge to watch over." The grey haired Jonin gestured, taking the lead of the large group of Konoha shinobi. The large pack began to shuffle out of the shelter, with the Genin following the backs of their respective teachers like little ducklings.

* * *

Naruto and Hidan set off from their shelter, abandoning it since they were leaving Wave today regardless if they managed to get the two Seven Swordsmen's blades or not.

With a simple Doton Jutsu, Naruto had brought the entrance in on itself, covering their tracks and ensuring that no one could enter it without a few hours of digging. Picking up his bag, Naruto slung it over his shoulder and pulled his mask, which had been sitting on the top of his head, down over his face. This time it was a new mask, one that was a simple, smooth porcelain mask.

Hidan was already waiting for him, a big grin on her face.

"C'mon! Let's go! Let's go!" She was visibly trembling in excitement but Naruto wasn't sure if it was because she was itching to pick a fight, something she hadn't done in some time, or if she wanted to pick up new toys. Either way, it would end poorly for the opposition. Ground rules had been set though, with Naruto making sure that Hidan promised not to harm the Konoha shinobi grievously or permanently. "I can't wait any longer!"

"Calm down, Hidan." Naruto tried to placate the eager woman, "We're leaving now, just give me a-"

With alacrity, Hidan ignored Naruto's words and bounced off, leaving a sighing Naruto behind who immediately made haste to chase after her.

* * *

When it was about time to reach the end of the bridge, Kakashi halted the group again and addressed them.

"Keep your eyes and ears peeled at all times." The Genin perked up at that, darting their eyes around the bridge and scanning their surroundings. "While they might not be here today, it's better safe than sorry to have most of us here to protect Tazuna. Natsumi, would you-?"

"On it!" She brought her hands up and crossed her fingers. Multiple clones burst into existence and stood around their group before she commanded them. "Alright ladies. You know what to do! Groups of two's in all directions. Spread out and keep watch!"

"Got it, boss!" The clones saluted her before they started running towards their respective sides of the bridges and jumped right off without fear, yipping and whooping as they fell towards the calm sea below.

"Alright, now that we have surveillance down, I want us to split up into the new groups and make sure that the bridge is safe."

* * *

_(Beginning of the unfinished bridge)_

Naruto had caught up to Hidan not too long after she had set off running, and they both reached the bridge together.

"So how are we doing this again?"

"I thought I told you?"

She shamelessly grinned at him, "I was distracted."

Naruto would've put his face into his hands, but with his mask on that wasn't possible. "We'll do a flank. I'll go from below and come up from the other side while you just head straight down. Knowing Kakashi, he'll most likely send Tazuna away once Zabuza reveals himself. More than likely, he'll be protected by someone, probably Kurenai since Gai is a heavy hitter and is more suited for taking Zabuza or Raiga on in battle. So unless you can handle a fresh faced Jonin and her team without killing them..."

"Of course I can," She bragged proudly, "I'm way stronger than I was before..." Her boasting died down and she blushed slightly before giving Naruto a genuine smile. "Thanks to you."

"I am a good teacher, aren't I?" He playfully jabbed at her, causing Hidan to scowl and punch his shoulder lightly.

"Shut up." She lost her scowl as she faced the bridge, smile growing on her face by the second. "I'll see you later at our rendezvous point."

"I'm surprised you remember that."

"Oh, fuck off." Naruto chuckled at Hidan's irritation, glad that she was tasting the very medicine she force-fed him constantly. Not that he minded it.

With that, he waved goodbye for now and jumped off the side of the cliff, plunging through and vanishing into the misty airs that surrounded Wave. Hidan stared at where he had vanished and silently bid him good luck and hoped he returned back to her safely.

Clearing her mind of thoughts related to Naruto, she started to run, past the shelter and onto the bridge itself, planning out what she intended to do when she met Natsumi.

* * *

Without having to walk at a slow pace with an entire group, the clones of Natsumi were considerably faster, running all the way to the end of the bridge long before Team Konoha had reached it. As with most sentient beings, the clones had grown bored despite the situation and had begun to play 'I Spy' with each other.

"I spy with my little eye..." The clone took a gander at her surroundings, trying to find something she could use. "Something white."

"Fog."

"Damn it." The first red haired girl snapped her fingers in frustration and frowned when her clone got it right.

"My turn. I spy with my little eye... something... foggy."

The clone thought about it for a moment, rubbing her chin as she pondered about the question deeply. "Is it the sea?"

"No, you idiot." The other clone fired back, "It's the fog."

"The fuck did you just call me? I'm you, idiot!"

"Yeah, well you're me too, dumb ass."

"You wanna fight me?!"

"Bring it you-" Then the clone's eyes moved behind the shoulder of her fellow clone and widened in surprise, "-Oh shit!" A blue, thin senbon stabbed her right in the neck and she fell back for a moment before bursting into a cloud of smoke, dispelling and vanishing. The other clone, caught off-guard by the other clone's 'death', turned around and found herself impaled by twin blades.

"Gah!" In a second, she too went up into smoke and vanished, leaving behind a rather unsatisfied Raiga, an annoyed Zabuza and an indifferent Haku.

Raiga sneered, pulling himself back from his stabbing position. "Well... It looks like they're already here."

Zabuza grunted and began to scale the unfinished bridge with speed, intent on chasing away the damned workers.

* * *

(At the second quarter of the unfinished bridge)

After walking on the waves for quite some time, Naruto came to a halt and brought his hands up.

A quick mutter later and five clones of Naruto popped out next to him and Naruto immediately began handing out large stacks of white paper, each with identical black scribbles on it from his backpack. Without having to command them, they immediately set off and began pasting them against the many pillars that he was surrounded by and had walked past since he had split off from Hidan. They were the support beams that kept the massive, weighty bridge above his head and they numbered in soon to be hundreds. Thicker than ten men huddled together, it was a marvel that they had even built this many. But they were also spread far from each other, standing in pairs but with great distances between the current pair and the next.

Having handed out everything, Naruto set off again.

* * *

"Oh crap." Natsumi muttered as the memories of her fallen clones returned to her. Her teammates and teachers' immediately snapped their eyes towards her as she growled. "They're here!"

"T-The Demon! He-He's here!"

A few men came stumbling out of the nearby makeshift house, probably having been taking naps and resting when they were awoken by their colleagues.

"Run, run, run!"

Kakashi glanced towards the end of the bridge where cries of terror sang in the early morning. The clattering of building materials and tools hitting the rough surface of the bridge echoed loudly before the men started to pour out of the fog, running as if the Shinigami was hot on their heels. The usually drunk Tazuna seemed to lose his sobriety once he realised the Demon of the Mist was here and even began to sweat profusely.

Ignoring them for now and looking back towards his own group, he regarded his colleagues.

"Kurenai!" The only female Jonin nodded her head and gestured for her team and Tazuna to follow her before they started running back down the bridge to retreat. Sakura and Shino gave worried glances to their teammates but set off after Kurenai and Tazuna, flanking his sides protectively as they ran.

"We'll take point, Gai. Everyone else, stay behind us. We are to hold them back only and to prevent them from chasing after the client. Am I understood?"

"Hai!" The students answered the silver haired Jonin, getting ready for battle in their own ways. Lee had already begun bouncing on his heels, punching the air at a rapid pace to warm his arms up while Neji's feet slid slightly apart, arms tensed and prepared to lash out at a moment's notice.

Sasuke reached into his pouch and retrieved his shuriken from between his fingers. Even without the Sharingan, Sasuke had been refining his ability to nail targets accurately with help from his big brother, whose Shurikenjutsu was highly praised by many.

Kakashi reached up to his headband and pulled it up, but kept his Sharingan closed. "The lot of you, get back." The Genin silently moved backwards and hid in the mist, patiently waiting for Zabuza to make his appearance. "Here he comes..."

The fog seemed to shift and gather, assembling at the roof of the building in a thick and dense cloud before it dispersed shortly, leaving a cross-armed Zabuza behind. Zabuza stared down at Kakashi from his vantage point on the roof of the small building. The room, as it were, was more like a place for the workers to rest in, providing refreshments and a shelter from the rain when need be.

"Kakashi." Zabuza's deep, reverberating voice uttered when the man stepped into view. Contempt was clear in his voice, but it was paired with respect since he knew just how dangerous his opponent was. "This time, only one of us will be leaving here alive."

"We could both leave fine if you stopped trying to kill our client." Kakashi lazily replied. His arms hung by his sides, fingers resting next to his pouch should he need to quickly draw his kunai or shuriken.

"Sorry. But once I've accepted a job, I tend not to go back on it."

"A damn shame." Kakashi smiled, "But... my students have been itching to pay back what you did to me." From the mist, a large fireball in the shape of a massive orb tore through the white sheets, spinning rapidly in the direction of Zabuza. Even with the massive weight of the blade on his back, Zabuza managed to easily dodge the fireball by jumping out of the way, causing the Jutsu to scorch the roof of the building.

Landing after his jump, Zabuza noticed Kakashi had vanished and quickly reached for his blade, instinctively bringing it out in front of him like a shield as he blocked the slash that would've taken out one of his eyes. Using the hand that was supporting the flat side of the blade, Zabuza yelled as he shoved it forwards, pushing Kakashi back.

"HYAH!" Kakashi was shoved backwards and sent skidding on the smooth concrete floor by his sandals.

Admitting that he was rather out of shape was not something Kakashi wanted to do, but it was rather true. While he had improved somewhat from his previous slump of visiting Obito and Rin's and all his fallen comrade's graves on a daily basis, an act that ate up all his time and prevented him from training, he still had yet to give up on his smut reading. His indulgence in erotic writing written by the one and only Jiraiya, his teacher's teacher, was simply something he couldn't give up. Had he been in his ANBU days, he probably would've been able to prevent himself from being pushed back this much, but with years of wear and tear on him, Kakashi did get slightly weaker.

"This is all you've got?" The Kiri shinobi remarked casually, "Seems to me you only got lucky that day."

"Huh?" Kakashi tilted his head to the side, "You mean the set up?"

"Set up?"

"Gai!" Zabuza widened his eye when he realised that Kakashi was merely stalling for time. But it was too late.

_"**Dynamic Entry!"**_

Or maybe it wasn't. With the knowledge of where the attacker was coming from, Zabuza changed the position of Kubikiribocho, holding it in the same fashion as before, but this time on his right.

A harsh and loud clang filled the ears of all those nearby as Gai's foot struck the flat side of Zabuza's blade. The impact from the leg drop had been so great that the blade shifted inwards, bashing Zabuza's shoulder with his own makeshift shield. Even the blunt force exerted onto it had been so strong that Zabuza's hand stung painfully for a few moments. The partially masked man growled and repeated his actions, pushing the broad, flat side of the blade and sending Gai away, who landed perfectly after a flip and unharmed.

Had it been anyone else, their foot would've been more than likely cracked, fractured or even broken. But Gai was no ordinary shinobi and got off scot-free, with not even a bruise or limp on his foot. Years of training had hardened his skin and bones to the point where it could take more punishment than the average person.

"Ho! That was a fantastic block!" Gai sent a thumbs up to a confused Zabuza's way, "I would compliment you more, however we are on opposing sides!"

Natsumi, Sasuke, Kiba, Lee and Neji appeared behind their sensei's, two out of the five impressed at the fact that Gai was still standing after dealing such a powerful blow to the dense cleaver sword. Natsumi had seen the shit Gai had done as training before and knew enough about the man from Kakashi to tell that he was more than fine.

Kakashi sighed as he felt a droplet of sweat roll down the side of his face, "Gai, for as long as I've know you, I've told you this. Hit first, then shout all you want. Not the other way around."

"My eternal rival, that would be very dishonourable!" The green-clad man protested, "Dishonourable acts cause the everlasting fires of Youth to dim and die!"

"We're shinobi, Gai." Kakashi groaned, "Honour means nothing when we're dead."

"I beg to differ, Kakashi! Taking honour with us to the grave-"

"Look, can we discuss this later? Like, after we're done beating the crap out of him?" Natsumi piped up from behind the two, "Today isn't a good day to die." The rest of the Genin nodded, hoping that their teachers would drop the subject of honour and return to dealing with the threat before them.

"Tsk." He scoffed, "I see you brought even more backup. A wise decision."

"Yes, well I am a little rusty," Kakashi admitted shamelessly with a chuckle, "And I'm not one to turn down help when I can get it. Speaking of backup, where's yours?"

"He's here." Raiga walked out from the mist behind Zabuza. His twin blades that were held loosely in his hands looked rather menacing with their jutted prongs. It reminded Natsumi greatly of her father's infamous three pronged kunai which had earned him much infamy during the Third Shinobi World War.

"Gai... You have beef with him don't you?"

"Yes." Gai's usual fire seemed to fall to a simmer. His eyes grew quite cold at the sight of Raiga, who gave him a look of scrutiny, observing Gai from head to toe. The look of deep thought on his face showed that Raiga was trying hard to remember Gai. "You were one of the men that my father fought to the death."

"I remember now..." Raiga smiled eerily, "You're the kid of that crazy guy? Hahahaha! You look just like him! Like father, like son I suppose!" Bringing the twin swords up, Raiga's eyes darkened considerably. His tongue darted out of his mouth, licking his lips hungrily. "I'll be sure to cut you up like I did your old man."

Gai's fists tightened, but not out of anger. His father's death had been an honourable sacrifice. Sacrificing his life to ensure the safety of his only child and his friends was one of the things only few fathers would admit they would do without a second thought.

There was no need to soil his death with feelings of hatred or vengeance.

What he felt now was the resolution to protect his students and friends, just like his father had.

"Then come!" Gai's feet slid apart as he entered his Goken stance, face stone cold with determination. "And show me your resolution!" Gai was speaking to their foes, but even then his words sparked a desire in the hearts of his comrades to do their utmost best.

Neji's hands rose, palms outwards, and were held outstretched before him, preparing himself to use any of the Hyuuga's defensive manoeuvres if need be. Lee, much like Gai, had already gotten into the same position by the time his sensei had finished speaking. Sasuke's hands held multiple shuriken, preparing to throw them when the battle started while his crimson haired teammate had summoned two shadow clones that stood by her side. Kiba got down onto his hands much like a canine, growling aggressively at the pair.

However, a faint, unfamiliar scent in the breeze that smelt strongly of assorted herbs, a scent he had picked up over the smell of bloodshed, caused Kiba's nose to twitch violently and the canine boy began to sniff the air. In a blur, the boy's head shot to the side of the bridge, staring at the air as he began growling again.

"Up there!" Zabuza scowled when he realised his apprentice had been found out. Haku was supposed to be his surprise attack, but he had not considered the appearance of scent trackers.

"Haku!" He yelled and faint whistles from speeding objects came from above. They tore through the fog in the form of large icicles, a sickly blue that was tipped with a very, very sharp end.

Gai allowed his student to step forth, "Neji!"

"Hai!" The boy ran forth, away from the group, and as he did the veins around his eyes bulged significantly and the pale eyes sharpened in focus. The world turned clear and Neji could see everything. He could see everyone of his Konoha comrades as well as his foes, including the one that had been discreetly hiding in the sky in some kind of... floating mirror. The icicles that were about to rain down upon them were also visible, clear as day despite being enveloped in the thick fog.

"Hakkeshō Kaiten (Eight Trigrams: Palm Rotation)!" The icicles slammed into the large, blue hemisphere that sheltered Neji, shattering into tiny, unseen water crystals that evaporated immediately. Natsumi, Sasuke, Kiba and even Lee gaped at the ability.

'**Hate to admit it, but that was pretty cool.'** Was the general thoughts going on in all but the latter's heads. Lee was in more of a proud shock than anything.

"That was fantastic! I have much training to do in order to catch up to you, my youthful friend!"

Seeing that their surprise attack had failed, Zabuza and Raiga frowned. Raiga brought one hand up, still holding onto his weapon, and muttered beneath his breath.

_"Kirigakure no Jutsu."_

The mist thickened almost immediately, surrounding every single person in the nearby vicinity, and both men stepped backwards into the pearly-white realm, vanishing from the sight of all but one of the Konoha Shinobi.

And so, it began.

* * *

The men ran and ran, fearing for their lives. Even though they had gone quite some distance now, enough to be called 'safe', they continued to run despite being out of breath, fuelled entirely by fear and adrenaline.

They hadn't even stopped to consider the silver haired woman who eyed them with great interest as both parties passed each other. They, much like her, pressed on or at least in their case - until they deemed themselves in the safety of their homes. And until then, were prepared to continue running.

"Damn! The party's startin' without me!" With a big laugh, she was prepared to charge forwards faster but before she could kick her speed up a notch, she was distracted by the rather bright pink in the distance. Despite the overwhelming fog, she could still pick out the bright colour since it stood out so well against the white and grey of the fog.

"Ah! Just like Naruto said... There you are." She took a bite of her thumb with her canine and ran her bloodied thumb over the seal on her chest. Forming the summoning seal with the very same hand, Hidan smiled wider when she felt her fingers wrap around the familiar handle of her scythe. Oh, how comforting it was to be able to feel the familiar instrument of death that she played for her victims.

She liked to think that in a way, her performances with her weapons were so impressive that she left them breathless and completely speechless. But alas, with the promise she had made to Naruto, little to no blood would be split today. Well, at least not from the kids, but Zabuza and Raiga were free game for her.

_"NOW GET THE FUCK OUTTA MY WAY!"_

* * *

_"-GET THE FUCK OUTTA MY WAY!"_

The shinobi and Tazuna came to a screeching halt when Hidan came rushing towards them, scythe held in an underhanded grip up against her forearm and behind her back as she ran.

Kurenai held her hand out and began to bark commands to her group, making sure that they stayed safe.

"Shino, Sakura. Get behind me and protect Tazuna." Both students complied and moved to stand next to each other, keeping Tazuna behind them and far away from the silverette. A kunai appeared in Kurenai's hand and she held up up in front of her after a quick twirl, preparing to defend herself if need be.

"No time to chitchat." Hidan nodded to the side for the other party to leave, "Just get outta my way and we can all be on our merry way."

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I can't allow you to pass. This is strictly shinobi business and the bridge is currently unsafe." Kurenai didn't trust this woman. What if she was helping Raiga and Zabuza? Or even if she were a civilian, which judging by the giant weapon she held - was clearly not, she wouldn't allow her to pass because of how dangerous it was.

"Tsk." Hidan sighed as she made a look of disappointment, "I really didn't want it to be like this, but- Ah, who am I kiddin'? I totally did." Hidan dashed forth and thrust the butt of her weapon forwards, holding onto her scythe between the fangs. Kurenai shifted her head aside, only just narrowly avoiding being struck by the attack. She hadn't expected Hidan to attack that quickly.

Hidan flung the scythe up and caught it as it fell, holding it normally again. Swinging it forced Kurenai to bring her kunai up, pressing against the lowest fang and pushing against it to prevent it from cutting her.

"Don't bother fighting," The immortal's attack relented and Hidan pulled back. "It's already-" She wondered why Kurenai was being so calm and focused on her crimson eyes. Suddenly, like a throb in her head, the world around her evaporated and dissolved away into darkness. All that was left was just her and a world of emptiness. She felt her scythe go loose in her hand and realised that it too had disappeared. Glancing back down, she stared at her hands as her head grew heavier and heavier. Nausea began filling her skull and making her seriously dizzy. Then her hands began to melt away as her vision blurred horribly.

"-Over. Genjutsu complete." Kurenai finished her sentence and Hidan reached for her forehead, clutching it tightly. That damnable woman's voice bounced between the inside of her cranium, seemingly taunting her on an endless loop.

However, despite the intense headache that was building up in her head, with the knowledge that she had dropped her scythe somewhere near her, she fell to her knees onto the sea of moving and shifting colours and began to search for it with her hands.

Feeling the touch of cold steel beneath her fingertips, she slowly curled her fingers around the thick blade and squeezed hard.

* * *

Kurenai turned to her team, ignoring the woman for now. The crippling nausea that it caused would undoubtedly keep her grounded for quite some time.

"Shino, Sakura. Are you alright?"

The students nodded, but were confused as to why their teacher had asked them. Sakura looked away from Hidan for a brief moment to look at Kurenai. "Why did you ask, Kurenai-sensei?"

"I don't know what kind of powers she has. I was just asking to make sure that she-" Hidan suddenly pushed herself off the ground and lunged at Kurenai silently, gripping her scythe tightly.

"Sensei!" Shino tried to pull his teacher to the side, but could only watch as Hidan thrust her scythe forwards, driving the blunt edge of the blade into the back of Kurenai's head. Completely caught off-guard and having expected Hidan to have been downed, Kurenai made the rookie mistake of letting her guard down around an opponent, something Gai and Kakashi would've never done.

Kurenai's eyes rolled to the back of her head as she passed out, and careened forwards into Shino. Tasked with catching his sensei, he was face hard, breaking his darkened glasses into two. However, Hidan wasn't finished yet. Wanting to make sure that he stayed down, Hidan opened her hand and grabbed Shino's forehead before driving his head into the ground, knocking him out with brutal efficiency.

Sakura and Tazuna gaped in horror at the sight of the two being knocked out before looking to Hidan.

"Well... Would you look at that." Hidan grinned and waved to the last two who were shaking in fear.

As Hidan waved, they noticed a large, bleeding gash in the middle of her palm from where she had cut herself from, breaking herself out of the Genjutsu Kurenai had put her under.

"God. You Konoha shinobi are so fucking irritating. I wasn't here to... Actually, you don't need to know what I'm here for." Hidan sneered at Tazuna, "And it's definitely not for you, ya fuckin' leathery bag of bones."

Tazuna would've been insulted if he wasn't quivering in his boots as much as he currently was. This woman was even scarier than Zabuza, with a complete lack of regard for her own health.

She then rushed up faster than either of them could stop her and drove her fist into Sakura's gut. The girl tried to block it but was far too slow in doing so, managing to only lift her hands up a little before Hidan made connection with her stomach. While punching Sakura, she simultaneously swung her scythe and smacked Tazuna in the temple with the back of her scythe, downing to the ground next to Kurenai and Shino.

Hidan was sure the four would be perfectly fine if she left them there, waking with some bruises and headaches but nothing too severe. Hand already healed up, Hidan sealed her scythe back into her chest.

Not wanting to waste any more time, she quickly set off again.

* * *

Zabuza snarled as he back handed another crimson haired girl that charged at him. She quickly burst into a cloud of smoke before being replaced by another. Pests, the lot of them. Like a cockroach that constantly bred and bred, the clones charged him over and over again without an end in sight. He swung his blade and deflected yet another volley of shuriken, sending them over the side of the bridge and down into the mist covered waves.

The damned trackers they had on their side made their Kirigakure no Jutsu essentially useless.

"Twelve o'clock!" He heard the irritable voice of that damned brat who sniffed them out and a fireball soared out from the mist. Slamming his blade down onto the ground, as he hid behind the makeshift shield and began forming a chain of hand seals as the fireball engulfed the area around him. Another clone of Natsumi rushed out from the mist and took a wild swing with her kunai, forcing Zabuza to jump out of the way.

Zabuza landed not too far off from his blade, stood up to his full height and roared.

_"Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu (Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu)!"_

The waters beneath the bridge swirled and bubbled before they rose, higher and higher until they were well above the bridge. The pillar of water towered over them all for a brief moment before it began to morph and take shape, taking on the image of a watery dragon. The briny beast gave a roar that sounded like waves crashing against the shore before it dived downwards, intent on washing away Zabuza's foes.

The clone yelped before it dispersed itself, passing on the information to Natsumi.

"Oh shit!" The redhead cried, "Water dragon! Incoming!" Kakashi jumped in front of the team, hand brought up to his masked mouth.

_"Katon: Houka (Fire Style: Rocket)!"_ A fireball the size of his fist blasted out of his mouth and mask at an incredible speed. The small fireball zipped through the air at great speeds and slammed against the face of the great water beast before exploding in a grand show of fire. The blast it left behind was nearly ten times the size of the original ball of fire Kakashi had spat out. The face of the dragon evaporated almost instantaneously and the momentum behind the attack slowed down, causing the leftover water that formed the dragon to splash across the floor.

Kakashi panted for a moment before regaining his breath. The move took too much chakra out of him, hence the explosive ending, and was one of the main reasons he didn't want to use it. In fact, it was probably the second or third time he had actually used it after stealing the technique from a runaway shinobi.

"Not too bad, Kakashi." Zabuza remarked, "But without your weird friend here to help you, it's going to be much easier to take you out." Indeed. The two had been separated by the attacks of two swordsmen, unable to stick together while simultaneously watching out for their Genin.

Kakashi gave a dry smile from behind his mask. "Why, I could say the same to you too."

"I think you're forgetting something..."

"To the left!" Kiba barked and Sasuke unleashed another volley of throwing weapons at the area he was directed to. However, all that he struck and pinned to the bridge was a handful of strong smelling herbs and plants.

Three sets of eyes and an eye widened in surprise.

"Huh?!"

Zabuza chuckled with great pleasure at their surprise, pulling Kubikiribocho out from the ground from where it stood and placed it across his shoulder.

"...My apprentice is better than those brats you call yours."

From the mist, the mysterious and masked figure of Haku dove out and tackled Natsumi backwards, a forearm on her neck and the other on her shoulder, catching all of them by surprise.

"Natsumi!" The three males cried simultaneously, attempting to make a move to chase after the teammate that had been separated from them. However, the water that surrounded them began to pool together, creating identical replicas of Zabuza.

"Oh no, you don't." Zabuza muttered as the Mizu Bunshin began to cordon off access to the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki and attacked.

"Mizu Bunshin are only a tenth of the strength of the original! I'll leave them to you." Kakashin instructed his team and turned around to attack Zabuza, kunai in hand while Kiba and Sasuke, obviously disgruntled that their best friend/crush had been taken away, began to fight the clones with an even greater drive than before.

_"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu ( Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu)!"_

_"Tsuuga (Passing Fang)!"_

* * *

Natsumi felt her back slam against the floor of the bridge. The wind was knocked out of her, but she regained it quickly before returning the favour to Haku. Still on the floor, she brought her knees up to her chest and placed the soles of her feet onto Haku's chest before kicking the boy off of her, catapulting the feminine boy over her. Haku landed perfectly, a leg outstretched to the side as he crouched with his other.

"Ugh... Why me?" Natsumi groaned as she rubbed her back, getting back up to her feet. "You into girls or something? Not that there's anything wrong with that... Just a little too rough." She joked, mistaking Haku's gender. Then she made a grimace out of awkwardness when Haku continued to be silent. "Tough crowd." She muttered to herself.

Haku ignored the extra and unnecessary chatter meant to unintentionally rile him up. Regardless if his foe perceived him as a girl or not, he was certain the redhead would still fight just the same. The girl didn't come off as the type who would pull her punches. "Why you? You and your clones were the main piece that was stopping Zabuza-sama from attacking. I acted on my own accord and removed you from the equation."

"Why though?" Natsumi asked, puzzled by her enemy's behaviour. Haku tilted his head to the side, unsure of what she was questioning. "He doesn't seem to treat you well at all." From what little she had seen during their battle, Zabuza constantly barked orders rudely and commanded Haku like an attack dog.

"As his tool, furthering his goals is all that matters to me."

"Ooohhhhh..." The daughter of the Hokage had a look of sudden realisation, bobbing her head as she realised what Haku was. "You're one of those people."

Haku's delicate face crinkled behind his mask.

"...Excuse me?"

"A mindless drone," Natsumi clarified, "People who blindly follow others without even so much as a thought. Like tools for them to use." Natsumi knew of them well. Her dad had told her about that shrivelled bastard, Danzo, and his little group of brainwashed shinobi that followed his every word and will. According to her dad, the group was now defunct but Natsumi felt otherwise. She couldn't exactly explain it, nor prove it, but deep within her she believed that they weren't exactly gone. Maybe for a little while, but not permanently. Her dad couldn't exactly arrest Danzo for going against his orders mainly because there was no substantial evidence against him, and it really irked Natsumi. So she made it a habit to glare viciously at the feeble-looking old man whenever she could.

"A tool I may be, but so long as I further Zabuza-sama's goals, I do not mind being labelled as such."

"Fair enough." Natsumi admitted. She didn't expect Haku to sway to her words. Maybe she could've tried if they had met prior, but with zero idea of who Haku really was behind that mask, Natsumi didn't exactly have much of a choice in what to do.

"You seem awfully calm. Did you not see my powers?" Haku muttered softly, but at the rate Natsumi was concentrating, Haku could've been right next to her, whispering directly into her ear. The boy could not tell if it was simply bravado or if she truly was that confident to face him. His current foe was brash, confident and loud, but even then it seemed as thought it was not completely unfounded. He gestured to the sea that surrounded them with a wave of his hand, "I can create ice out of thin air. It is a dangerous element, especially when I have access to a sea's worth of water."

"So you're asking me if I should be scared?" Haku didn't reply and Natsumi took it as a 'yes'. "Probably. But right now, admittedly, all I'm feeling is excitement. Maybe it's because I've never gotten the chance to actually go completely all out during a fight, mainly because I've never had my life threatened in such a way." Scratching her nose, she smiled cheekily. "Not even against Sasuke-teme have I ever gone balls to the wall... But before we fight or anything, I gotta at least know your name."

Haku supposed that it wouldn't hurt to at least be polite.

"Yuki Haku." He bowed slightly, respectfully obliging Natsumi's request.

Natsumi grinned, jabbing a thumb to her heart proudly.

"Namikaze Natsumi. Future Hokage of Konoha!"

Haku stared at her for a moment more before he gave a small genuine smile.

"Is that your dream? Dreams are... nice to have, aren't they? To make Zabuza-sama's dreams come true... that is my dream."

"Your dream is to assist Zabuza...? I guess I was wrong about you being a mindless drone. Sort of. And no... that isn't my dream. At least, not right now. My current goal is to bring my brother back home!"

"I see." Haku smiled. Despite her rough attitude and way of speaking, Haku could see the good inside of her. Such people were rare in their current age. "I wish you luck in your future endeavours."

Natsumi didn't really get what he meant by that. Surely Haku expected himself to win, right?

The air grew tense as both parties shifted slightly, angling themselves in the positions they felt comfortable starting off with. Haku wasn't going to kill Natsumi, but hopefully put her under long enough for Zabuza-sama to finish her team off.

The masked shinobi swung his arm outwards and a wave of ice senbon flew towards Natsumi.

Natsumi fell back and raised her arms. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Smoke came and went, summoning a large horde of clones in it's place. The clones were immediately dispelled by the incoming senbon, leaving behind a thick cloud of smoke that Haku failed to see through.

The air behind him shivered and Haku raised his right up to his face, bracing himself as a massive kick struck where his cheek would've been. The blow behind the strike sent the boy spiralling to the side but he quickly picked himself up with only a bruise to his forearm.

"Damn." Natsumi frowned a little, "I was hoping that it would work. Was my Shunshin (Body Flicker) too slow?" Natsumi asked Haku, but before he could even answer she had already moved on. "Yeah, I guess it was. Oh well, Plan B, I suppose." The girl shrugged before she went up in a plume of smoke.

'A clone?!' Haku widened his eyes from behind his mask before he heard the ground rumble.

_"Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu (Earth Style: Groundhog Technique Decapitation)!"_ The cement floor beneath Haku's feet crumbled and a pair of hands reached out, grabbing his ankles. However, Haku was quicker, escaping the hands right as they grabbed air, landing a distance away from the original.

"Oi, oi, oi." The hands pushed the weakened floor aside and out popped her head. Crimson locks pooled around the floor after she pulled her head out, making Natsumi look like some unique, whiskered flower. "You telling me that didn't work? Are ya serious? Do you know how dangerous it was hiding down here? If the bridge hadn't been built to be so damn thick, then I would've fallen right through it." Natsumi pulled the rest of herself out of the hole, not even bothering to brush the crumbs of cement that clung to her clothes.

"You..." Haku narrowed his eyes, watching her like a hawk, "You're a dangerous one." Completely unpredictable, he had no idea just what she was capable of.

"You don't even know the half of it." She rubbed her stomach and laughed as if what she had just said was an inside joke. Haku didn't understand, but what he did know was that his foe was now classified as a genuine threat to him. Somewhere, deep within his body, Haku felt that if she wasn't chained down by her teacher and his orders, she would've somehow managed to beat Zabuza-sama. Although that was highly unlikely, he just couldn't quash the feeling.

"Hey, Haku! Catch!" Natsumi returned the earlier favour and flung a handful of shuriken at Haku, who moved only slightly out of the way to avoid it. It turned out to be a bad mistake.

One shuriken, hidden amongst the many she had thrown, revealed it's true nature to be a Kage Bunshin Henge'd into a shuriken. In agonisingly slow motion, Haku watched with wide, shocked eyes as he was unable to do anything to stop the clone, who was right in his face, waving happily at him. His eye moved slowly to the clone's other hand, which he noticed was cocked all the way behind her her head.

Years of training under the Yondaime, Ninjutsu lessons from her uncle figure and the occasional Taijutsu class from the man with the bushiest brows did give Natsumi the ability to hand most people and slightly over their asses.

**_"HOOoooRRRAAah!"_** Like a whip lashing out, the fist connected to his face -mask- and delivered a haymaker that sent stars splaying out across the inside of Haku's head. Much like before, the blow placed behind the punch sent Haku through the air, head over heels. However, this time he was unable to catch himself, due to being completely and utterly stunned from the blow, and fell hard against the cold floor. He rolled and rolled until he finally came to a stop, disorientated from the strike. The world spun and spun in his head, but even then, Haku started to pick himself up with a slight struggle. Hands on the floor, the boy pushed himself up to a kneel before standing up, staggering as he did so.

He would not lose here. He could not lose here. Zabuza-sama needed his help and he would not fail his master. Broken tools were thrown away, and Haku didn't want that fate.

So caught up in their fight, the two failed to notice someone else approaching from the beginning of the bridge.

* * *

Hidan slowed down when she had noticed a fight going on ahead of her.

"Fuck." The silverette sighed as she prepared to bite her healed thumb again, "Even more assholes to-" Then she narrowed her eyes as she saw the bright crimson hair in the distance. "Wait... Is that... Is that Natsumi-chan? Oh shit, it is... What's she doing fighting that guy by herself?" Then she lowered her hand, observing her fight against the masked kid who looked to be around the same age as her, going by size.

"Gotta get past her... But how...?" Hidan muttered to herself before a brilliant plan came to her mind. A mind that Naruto would argue was a little lacking in most areas. A dusty, cobweb-ridden light bulb in her head suddenly lit up and an idea -debatable if it was a good or bad one- popped into her mind.

She snapped her fingers and gave herself an imaginary pat on the back, pleased that she had been so clever as to formulate such a brilliant plan. "Right, she doesn't know about me! Just act stupid, you can do this." She swore she heard Jashin-sama snort, as if trying to hide her laughter. She didn't know what was so funny, but she ignored it for now.

Trying to look as normal as possible, she whistled a merry tune and made her way towards the two.

* * *

Haku panted and formed the hand seals to the technique that would completely put a halt to the momentum Natsumi was gaining.

_"Makyō Hyōshō (Secret Jutsu: Crystal Ice Mirrors)..."_

The water molecules in the air begun to take form, solidifying at a fast rate and creating floating mirrors that were placed in a shape of a dome. It was reminiscent of large cage, and Natsumi was the little bird trapped within it.

"The hell is this...?" She rapped the mirror closest to her with her knuckles and shivered as a chill went down her spine at the coldness the mirrors emanated. In a matter of seconds, even her breaths became visible as the temperature dropped and even snow began to fall. Subconsciously, she began to tug her cardigan close and fiddled with the buttons that lined it.

"This is technique passed down to me by my mother, only known and used by those in my clan. And with this technique, I will protect Zabuza-sama." Haku shook the remnants of the blow away from his head and made his way towards the one closest to him.

"What does it do?" Natsumi was more curious that afraid. Something as interesting as this captivated her attention easily. Regardless, she had a bad feeling about it.

"This." Haku answered her question by placing his palm against the mirror and slowly began to seep into it, losing his physical form as he entered the mirror. Natsumi pulled a shuriken out flicked it towards the mirror he had just entered, expecting the ice crystals to give way to the shuriken toss. Instead, it bounced off harmlessly, leaving not even a scratch.

"Huh..."

Natsumi frowned and tossed another, this time at a faster speed. Her frown grew when it still bounced off, leaving the same results.

"That-That's er... That's not very good..." She trailed off.

"What's not very good?" Hidan smiled as she jumped out from behind one of the many mirrors, landing inside of the dome. The elder female had to stifle a large grin when she saw the horrified look on Natsumi's face.

* * *

Laughter filled the air as Gai bobbed and weaved between Raiga's quick stabs and slashes, dodging every single attack with some difficulty. The weapons crackled and sparked with electricity, calling on it's natural ability to use lightning to aid it in battle. Not wanting to get shocked, Gai had to keep his distance.

Neji and Lee stood far behind their teacher, watching the two battle it out. Neji's Byakugan had been turned off and was conserved for when Raiga tried to hide in the mist again, allowing him to time to replenish his chakra. Gai didn't want them to get to close and to only step in when he needed help.

"Maybe I went a little too far..." Both boys snapped their heads to the side to see Naruto walking up and onto the ledge of the bridge.

Neji stared in shock before he snarled at Naruto. "You!" Although Naruto hid his face with a mask, there was no mistaking that mane of hair for anyone else's.

Naruto managed to mask his surprise well, not having expected seeing Gai and his team so far down the bridge. Luckily for him, Raiga was here as well. Just the man he was looking for.

"Hyuuga Neji and Rock Lee, yes? I remember you two well." He couldn't ever forget about Lee. The boy's unquenchable fire and desire for wanting to improve himself despite his weaknesses and disadvantage as a shinobi truly was inspiring. It also helped that he was very likeable, if not loud, but also humble and respectful. His teammate was on the other side of the spectrum, but even then Neji could back up his scathing insults with his natural prowess in his clan's techniques. Both were impressive in their own rights, and Naruto knew of their tough history and backgrounds. Losing a father and being oppressed by his clan made Neji bitter and Lee's inability to use Ninjutsu made him a laughing stock amongst his classmates. "What a coincidence."

"Are you working for Gato as well, Naruto-san?" Lee spoke up, wondering aloud.

"Not at all." Naruto shook his head. "I came here for something else entirely." His answer caused the boy's to raise an eyebrow, now unsure of his motives. Then he glanced towards Raiga and his swords. "I'll have to ask you to move." The quick look towards Raiga had been misconstrued by the two boys, making them think that he was after Gai instead.

Veins near Neji's eyes bulged once more as he activated his Byakugan while Lee stepped into his Goken stance, not allowing Naruto to harm his master so long as he was standing.

Seeing that they had no intention of stepping aside -not that he expected them to in the first place- Naruto vanished as a flicker.

Realising that he had just dodged their battle, Neji and Lee turned to see Naruto next to Gai and Raiga, both of which were confused by the sudden appearance of Naruto. They temporarily stopped the battle, jumping away from each other to stare at the new appearance.

"Gai-senpai." Naruto greeted the man quietly as he stared down at the man who had taught him much in terms of Taijutsu. He was careful to keep his eyes from showing any emotion. His mother had always said that the eyes were the window to the soul and that you could easily read a person's intentions just by staring into them. And since he was fully masked besides his eyes, it made it all the more easier for anyone to read them since they didn't have to focus on anything else but his eyes so Naruto had to constantly remind himself to keep his eyes stone cold or emotionless when in the presence of anyone but Hidan.

"Naruto-kun." Gai replied, staring into the azure eyes. "It's nice to see you again. I do wish it was on better terms."

"I agree." Naruto dropped down from the ledge and landed next to Gai and Raiga. The latter of whom gave Naruto a confused look.

"Are you siding with Zabuza and Raiga?" Gai questioned, not bothering to be delicate about the situation, "Please reconsider Naruto-kun. Surrendering yourself in and returning to Konoha will allow Hokage-sama to lessen your sentence considerably."

"You misunderstand, Gai-senpai. I am on no one's side." Naruto's quiet voice was laced with venom as he stared at Gai with contempt, as if mentioning the Hokage in his presence was a taboo. He threw his arm to the side, as if casting away the notion.

"The only side I'm on is my own." Naruto flickered for a brief moment before he disappeared and reappeared behind Raiga, fist cocked and ready to strike. Raiga spun around quickly and slashed the sword across where Naruto's chest would've been, forcing the blonde to abandon his attack and to lean backwards to dodge.

He fell backwards but one of his feet shot upwards and kicked the hand that was delivering the passing slash. His back bent and his hands touched the ground, allowing him to push himself up into the air in a back-flip and then back onto the ground.

Raiga hissed and reeled his injured hand back. The fingers that had been kicked hard began to twitch in pain, and Raiga was more than certain that they had been fractured. He sported a grimace and cradled his hurt hand to his chest, careful not to cut himself with his blade. With the sudden appearance of Naruto, Raiga was now trapped between a rock and a hard place.

Naruto stretched his open hand out to Raiga, "Give me the sword, and you live." The demand caused Raiga to regain his previous amusement.

"Hah!" He laughed, despite his injury, "What makes you think I'll give my blades up so easily? Bah! I can take you on, even with one hand!" His overconfidence as one of the Swordsmen was getting to his head. Pride unwilling to let him run, he stood his ground and spun his blade around, causing arcs of electricity to form on the weapon. Naruto glared icily at the man, ignoring the Konoha shinobi behind Raiga.

"Then I'll just have to ask you again when you're dead."

* * *

"Hidan-nee?" Natsumi rubbed her eyes, hoping that she was just delusional and it wasn't the actual Hidan next to her, "What're you doing here?!"

"Huh?" Hidan gave her an incredulous look, "Well, duh, silly. I'm crossing the bridge." She paused to take a look around, raising her eyebrows as she took in the mirrors. Leaning in close to one, she examined it carefully with her hand on her chin. "Didn't know they installed these ice mirrors though. Not exactly my tastes but hey - this isn't my bridge."

"T-The bridge! It isn't even finished!" Natsumi spluttered before shaking her head, "Never mind that. Did you not see a group of grown men running past you? Screaming their lungs out? Was that not a clear indication to turn around and leave?" Haku had paused, staring at the appearance of the woman with bewilderment.

"Why - it sounds as if you **want **me to leave, Natsumi-chan." Hidan feinted a hurt look, but ended up breaking it with an uncontained smile.

The girl palmed her face. "That's **exactly **what I want you to do." Natsumi retorted with a grimace. This was not good. Now she had to make sure that Hidan-nee would come out of this unscathed while also watching her own hide. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Haku raise his hand, senbon between the knuckles of his fingers.

Hidan waved her hand as if she were waving away Natsumi's fear, "Don't worry, Natsumi-chan. I'll protect- Whoa!"

Natsumi jumped at Hidan and pushed out of the way, dodging the senbon that flew at her from her side. Hidan yelped as she was taken to the ground, watching with wide eyes as Natsumi straddled her waist.

She chuckled despite the situation. "These mirrors are quite dangerous aren't they?"

"Damn it!" Natsumi cursed, "You need to leave. Now!"

"I'm sorry," Haku apologised, "But that won't be possible." All at once, the mirrors held the same image of Haku with senbon between all ten of his fingers.

Natsumi bore her teeth at the many mirrors, spinning her head and body around in circles as she watched every single one of the reflections. For the first time since the battle had started, she felt the feeling of fear and anger ebb into her heart.

**In the darkness, the shut-eyed Kyuubi's lips pulled backwards to reveal an ominous grin.**

* * *

Raiga thrust his sword forwards, missing Naruto by a significant margin. The younger boy was much faster than him, and if he didn't know any better, would have said that he was toying with him. But those eyes... They were glued to his, staring and glaring at him at all times. He didn't even have to look at his attacks to avoid them, damn it!

It was wise to note that the man was around the same age Gai's father was, so Naruto admitted that he had him beat in terms of age.

"GAH! STOP. DODGING. SO. MUCH!" Raiga roared as he swung wildly. His fingers had recovered at least enough for him to use his other blade, and he followed up by spinning around, jumping and carving the air with impressive agility. However, it still was not enough to hit or even touch Naruto. The blades begun to spark and crackle even more than before as Raiga channelled electricity through them. Naruto ducked as another slash passed him and spun on his heel before his leg shot out, heel crashing into Raiga's chin. The man was launched backwards, lifted off the ground, before he caught himself in the air and landed on his knee.

The back of his palm brushed past his bloodied lip before he glanced up at Naruto. Desperation and madness was present in his eyes and Naruto knew that Raiga was now begging to land a hit on him.

_"Raikyū (Lightning Ball)!"_ Lifting his blades up, he brought the two upper prongs of Kiba together. The electrical charge that had been building up in the blade began to travel upwards and towards the two fangs, creating a ball of electricity the size of a man's fist. "DIE! JUST DIE!" Raiga brought his swords down and essentially fired the ball at the blonde.

"I think not." Naruto rushed forwards, completely fearless at the approaching attack with his right hand held out. His left immediately went over it, beating the air above his palm and moulding and shaping the chakra he released into his palm, visualising a palm sized ball in his hand. A swirling ball of chakra began to manifest in the middle of his palm, forming almost instantaneously. It grew and grew until it was the size of a kick ball before turning from blue to white. The air around him began to filter into the ball, forming a visible vortex of wind above it. Small, stubby blades grew from the sides of the whirling white ball as if a shuriken of sorts was growing in the middle of it, leaving all who witnessed it in surprise.

The appearance of the Rasengan was also accompanied by an ear-piercing wail that made everyone but Naruto cringe.

For a brief second, Raiga actually thought he had won. While Naruto may have created his attack, his electrical ball was too close to be dodged and there was no way that Naruto could even lay a finger on him!

Victory was his!

The attack connected with Naruto's chest and the blonde widened his eyes as the ball dissipated and entered his body as a surge of electricity that electrified his nerves completely. Naruto would've at least grunt in pain but turning into a blackened log of wood made it rather hard to voice anything.

_"What?! No!"_

Naruto appeared right in front of him and Raiga finally realised just how out of touch he had been this entire time.

He had been had! Played like a fucking fiddle!

And there it was again. Those damned eyes staring at him as if he was lesser than him.

He was Kurosuki Raiga! One of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist! He wasn't going to be beaten by some god damned, blonde haired, snot nosed pun-

_"Fūton: Rasengan." _

His thoughts were cut short when the swirling ball was driven right into his sternum. The sounds of flesh being torn and shredded and bones being ground to dust beneath the whirling Rasengan were followed up by Raiga's blood-curling screams.

Lee and Neji cringed at the gory sight and horrible sound, looking away as Raiga died before their eyes. Gai stared impassively, sighing deeply as he did. He was reluctant to do it, but he had to take Naruto down now that Raiga was dead.

* * *

Natsumi dropped to her knees and coughed hard. Specks of blood accompanied by spit splattered onto the floor, painting red polka dots onto the grey concrete. Her back, shoulders, legs and arms were riddled with senbon. She supposed that it helped plenty that they were cold since it was numbing the pain, but then again, it **was **numbing and she was slowly losing control of her muscles.

Hidan fared only slightly better. The amount of senbon that had been stuck into her was significantly lesser than Natsumi since Haku didn't perceive her as a threat as well as the fact that Haku mainly aimed for Natsumi, with Hidan getting in the way of some of his attacks.

The little redhead's hand pressed against the floor of the bridge before it curled up tightly into a fist. She really hated how she had lost control of the battle just because of some shitty Kekkei Genkai. The anger that she had felt earlier on came back when she recalled how she had been toyed with inside of Haku's domain. Earlier on, she had faired rather well, avoiding most of the senbon Haku had sent her way. But in the end she couldn't dodge them all, coming from all sides while micromanaging her elder sister. Getting tagged every so often had eventually caused her mobility to drop until she could no longer move.

It really pissed her off how none of her attacks had worked on the mirrors. Either they just bounced right off or the Katon Jutsu were expelled by the intensely low temperature. Rasengan was out of the question since every single time she spawned a clone to help her create it, it would just be taken out of the equation by senbon.

She wasn't alone though as Haku, too, was feeling the wear of keeping so many mirrors up at the same time. It was draining his chakra severely, to the point where if he didn't finish this soon then he'd be passing out from chakra exhaustion.

"Calm down." She breathed out in a harsh exhale, trying to release all her pent up anger with it. Clenching her eyes shut, the girl whispered to herself. "Don't let the anger get to you. Don't let the anger get to you." She chanted it over and over again to herself like a mantra.

Haku watched on as Natsumi struggled to stand, her apparent sister standing slouched next to her. He wanted to knock them -specifically Natsumi- out quickly and return to Zabuza-sama's side, whether his body protested or not. He raised his hands once more and the mirrors followed suit.

"This is the end for you. You have my sincerest apologies for performing this on you, but death will be swift. _Sensatsu Suishō (Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death)."_ Haku's arm twitched and a hail of ice shards surged out of the many mirrors to pierce their targets.

Natsumi weakly raised her hands to block the needles, but they came in an unstoppable barrage from the all sides, and certainly in numbers far too many to block with just one hand. She didn't want to give up, but what could she do? Nothing. Try as she might, her muscles wouldn't respond to her brain. They just could move any more. There wasn't anything she could do but kneel there and die.

Fuck. What an embarrassing death. It really made her blood boil. As much as she absolutely detested to admit it, this was probably it for her. The end of her. Dying without even getting to kiss her Naru-nii on the lips passionately, let alone bring him back home. Not achieving her goals to become the Hokage, to proudly show him her journey as from a little girl into a woman.

Oh, such was life. The cruel mistress couldn't give her a break.

Closing her eyes, she awaited the senbon's arrival.

"Ara, you little fucker." Natsumi's eyes snapped wide open when she heard her sister curse. It was rather strange hearing vulgarities from someone who seemed to never ever speak it. The heat of the battle must've gotten to her as well as the threat of death. Hidan's needled body dashed forwards and slid in front of the storm of icy needles, opening her arms wide in order to prevent any from hitting the girl behind her.

Natsumi held her breath and watched in shock. And time seemed to freeze as they slammed into her and embedded deeply into her flesh.

The tense silence was broken when she tilted her head over her shoulder to look at her little sister. On her face she wore a proud, if not wavering, smirk. Despite the wave of death that had hit Hidan's, she laughed yet again -this time, slightly more grimly- at Natsumi's face but they came out as short, troubled gasps instead of their usual due to her severely punctured lungs.

"You ain't killing my little love guru. Ever." Then she keeled over to the side and met the floor face-first, slamming into it without anything to brace her fall. Hidan managed turn her senbon riddled neck, to Natsumi's face with care in her slowly shutting eyes.

"Ugh… Told you, stupid… A big sister always protects her little sister." Her words trailed off and her eyes slowly shut.

Haku's eyes grew wide behind his mask. He hadn't anticipated the elder female to move so quickly, especially how weak she seemed prior to his attack. It also worried him greatly since he had not accounted for her stepping out in front of Natsumi, which meant that she had a chance of her vitals being pierced on accident.

He had wanted to cry out a warning, but it had been too late. He shut his eyes behind his mask and prayed that she had died immediately after her last words.

It was admirable, seeing her protect the girl she called her little sister, despite them arguing earlier on. The look in the little girl's eyes as her surrogate big sister took the shower of senbon to the chest, arms, legs, and neck, was absolute horror and shock. Haku had to stem the guilt rising in his chest, knowing that the two were in the same situation as he and his master.

To Natsumi, everything was quiet. All she could concentrate on was the woman who shielded her with her own body, sacrificing herself to save her.

"Hi…Hidan-nee? Don't play with me, Hidan-nee…"The girl chuckled weakly as if Hidan was playing a prank on her. She wasn't dead. She was just faking it, just pulling her leg. Any second now, she would get up, with her big grin and laugh at her for believing that she had died.

But Hidan continued to lie down, eyes closed and face devoid of any emotion.

Natsumi's breathing got faster and faster until she began hyperventilating. "Get up… Hidan-nee. Wake up! Wake up!" She begged.

The body didn't move, not even twitch. Hidan was dead. The woman who she had bonded with over a timespan of less than a week, the one whom which she had created a complex friendship with, was dead because of Natsumi. Dead because she couldn't protect her.

_**Dead because of…**_

Slowly, her head moved and she stared into one of the many mirrors that surrounded her. She stared at the masked boy who was gazing at Hidan's unmoving body and she stopped hyperventilating.

_**Haku…**_

Purple eyes twitched violently and a tinge of red broke out onto her usually cheerful eyes. Soon, the colour of fury swamped Natsumi's eyes, completely replacing the gentle lavender with crimson. Her circular pupil turned slitted, properties of the Kyuubi surfacing.

Rage, fury, anger, hatred. The negative emotions broiled beneath the surface of her skin, wanting to burst out to consume her big sister's killer.

_**"You killed my nee-chan… Hidan-nee is dead because of you."**_

Ablanket, smothering and heavy clouded the area much like the Kirigakure no Jutsu, and it brought a masked Haku out of his mirror and to the ground. Gripping his thin and feminine neck, Haku began choking hard on the power that radiated off of Natsumi, orange and red glowing from her body. The Killing Intent was simply too strong for him to handle and paralysed his body in fear.

The psychological effect of being threatened to such an extent had translated into a physical effect, weighing him down because of his mind. In terms of reality, there was nothing actually preventing him from standing back up and fighting back, but his mind couldn't comprehend that. And even if it could, it probably wouldn't have worked any ways.

Mind was always stronger than body, and weak minds wouldn't be able to fight back against the Killing Intent of a Jinchuuriki.

It was more than he had ever felt and probably would feel in his entire lifetime. It was at least a hundred- no, a thousand times stronger than his master's own!

* * *

_"**YES!" The Kyuubi's dark laughter rang with glee, grinning even wider than before at the prospect of his host tearing Haku apart. "Use your rage! Your anger! Tear him apart! Let them know what it's like to fear you!"**_

* * *

Zabuza and Kakashi managed to stay on their feet while Kiba and Sasuke keeled to their knees, unable to withstand the sudden weight of Natsumi's uncontrollable rage slamming into them. Being experienced shinobi, the two men were still able to stay standing but were finding some difficultly in moving.

"N-Natsumi!" Sasuke gritted his teeth, knowing that his friend had lost control of herself, thus the release of the Kyuubi's chakra.

He hadn't experienced the Kyuubi's chakra before, only knowing what it felt like when he had been told by those who had experienced it first hand. And when he said that it was anything alike what they had mentioned, he'd be wrong.

It was so much worse.

Like the weight of the world on his shoulders, he struggled to even move an inch. But his friend was in trouble, if not worse since she had tapped into the Kyuubi's chakra as a last resort. The agonising thought of his best friend dying at the hands of someone he failed to stop caused his heart to wrench violently and suddenly, he felt as if his mind blacked out momentarily.

The mental stress of being held back by Zabuza and being unable to help his friend, who was currently losing herself to the beast that lay within her, as well as the Kyuubi's Killing Intent weighing down on him caused Sasuke's brain to release a chakra unique only to his clan.

With a shuddering breath, Sasuke's eyes bled out and turned a bright crimson, accompanied around the pupil by a ring that went through a single tomoe. Everything became clearer and sharp before his eyelids fluttered and he fainted, unable to handle the stress on his mind any further. Kiba cursed and tried to crawl over to Sasuke, but was unable to do so.

"W-What the hell..." Zabuza spoke through gritted teeth, eyes narrowed as he glanced in the direction of Natsumi and Haku. He buried his sword into the ground and leaned against it,

"Damn it... Did the seal break?" Kakashi "I need to end this _now!_"

* * *

Neji and Lee slouched slightly as the wave passed by them. They were further away from Sasuke and Kiba and weren't nearly as affected by it, but were still visibly fighting against the overpowering Killing Intent.

Gai frowned and glanced over his shoulder as he felt the Kyuubi's aura once again, a feeling he wished would've never risen again so long as he lived. But alas, something must've happened to Natsumi to have caused her to use the Kyuubi's power.

Glancing back to Naruto, Gai noted the lack of care or worry in his eyes for his sister's current state. By his feet, Raiga lay, a large gaping hole in the middle of his torso. His eyes were glazed over and hazy, mouth wide open in a silent scream.

Naruto held the infamous blades in one hand, clutching onto it tightly. Gai assumed that he was unnerved by the Kyuubi's chakra as well, thus his sudden tense disposition. The boy had been four when the monster had struck and had been right there in front of it when it was sealed. To have felt it's awful aura again must have brought back memories of fire and death to him, thus his sudden tenseness. Gai was unaware that Naruto was mostly concerned for Natsumi.

"Is this your doing, Naruto-kun?" The man's face hardened considerably when he came to the same conclusion everyone else did. Even more so when it came to the little girl he cared about like he did his students. "Did you plan for Natsumi to use the Kyuubi's power?"

"Plan for it? As I told you, I had no intention of meeting you lot. I received word that two of the Seven Swordsmen were after a bridge builder and that piqued my interests enough to come here."

Naruto hid his worry incredibly well, but inside he was panicking for his little sister. Luckily the Kiba were forged incredibly well, or else it would've snapped under Naruto's current vice grip. He desperately wished he could rush over there to help her, but he couldn't. He even had to force himself to stand still, controlling his breathing and reminding himself over and over again that if he could not break character.

He was certain that Itachi would've done the same in his place. So, with an incredible amount of self-control, he calmed himself down, blinked for a second longer than usual as he recollected his thoughts and replied to Gai in an even voice after a moment of forethought.

"But now you're faced with a choice." Naruto tilted his head to the side to look over Gai's shoulder and down the bridge. It was still misty so not much could be seen. "Assist my sister and let me leave, or fight me and possibly allow her to release the Kyuubi, destroying everything and anything in it's path."

Gai frowned deeply at Naruto, disappointed that he would stoop so low. While he may have slaughtered the Uchiha Clan, he had done so with mercy to almost all the members. Many of whom had died not even knowing they had died.

But to use his own sister as bait to get away, whether planned or not, was truly despicable.

"You disappoint me, Naruto-kun." Gai shook his head as Naruto began to leave, "One day your actions will catch up to you, and you will come to regret them then."

Naruto said nothing as he jumped off the side of the bridge, but his thoughts were in a complete mess.

_'I know, Gai-sensei... I know.' _But Naruto was relieved that Gai had chosen Natsumi over him, mainly because he worried about her but also partially because - had Gai picked him over Natsumi, Naruto would've had to detonate the bombs he had planted earlier to distract the man. It was over the top and grand, as well as unnecessarily explosive, but it would've given him enough time to run from a man who could unlock the Eight Gates. Glad that it was the former, Naruto hit the sea in a sprint and quickly took off, not looking back once.

* * *

Natsumi's canines grew even further until they were unnaturally long and sharper than before. Her fingernails grew out as well, turning into makeshift claws that, if she wanted to, could tear into flesh.

"Ghcck!" In an instant, Haku found himself hoisted up into the air by Natsumi's one hand, one that was enclosed around his mask.

**"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!"**Hoisting the petite boy up, Natsumi slammed him against his mirror, cracking the tough ice crystal with the back of Haku's head. The ice user's head bounced between his mask and his mirror, held up in the air by Natsumi's clawed hand. She pulled him back out and lifted him up again only to bury him into the floor of the bridge. Rage blinded her completely. She didn't care if Haku was barely able to stand. All that mattered to her was to break him completely.

Haku released a weak, pained groan, his nerves overloaded his brain with an incredible amount of pain. It was like a hundreds nail were being hammered throughout his body, alerting him constantly of just how badly hurt he was. A foot slipped under his back and with a slight lift with her ankle, Haku was brought up into the air. Natsumi jumped up with him and delivered a powerful punch to his face just like before, caving his mask in with a single hit. The strong ceramic was unable to withstand Natsumi's new-found strength and shattered into multiple pieces, falling apart instantly and revealing Haku's beaten face.

The punch sent Haku slamming right through one of the ice mirrors and, finally, the mirror Haku had been thrown into shattered into a million particles that melted away. Soon, the rest of the mirrors vanished, melting away once Haku lost grip of his abilities and allowed them to finally leave the cage they had been in. With a roar, Natsumi took this as the perfect opportunity to pick him up again and flung the poor boy off the side of the bridge, pitching him like a fastball into the sea.

* * *

(On the sea, with Natsumi and Haku)

Haku slammed into the surface of the sea, crashing into it like it was concrete. With barely enough chakra to keep him afloat on the sea, Haku could do nothing but lie there and pant, which came out in short rasps. His ribcage had all but collapsed in on itself, preventing most of his lungs from working and his body was utterly mangled from being tossed and thrown around so violently by Natsumi.

Natsumi landed next to Haku's disfigured form, her eyes still a deep crimson red. Water rained down from above from when she landed with a splash, soaking both of them, but it she didn't even acknowledge the fact that she was wet. She was absolutely focused on Haku. It seemed as if her rage had subsided a little. Not by much, but a little since she wasn't throwing him around yet.

"You took her away from me." A deep growl escaped her throat, displaying her current emotions just in case her aura failed to do so.

"I'm guessing..." Haku coughed, his battered chest rattling as he did, "I'm guessing that... you've never seen someone you love... die before you..."

Natsumi kept silent while Haku spoke, but her eyes still bore holes deep into his now visible face.

"That's why I wanted to... protect Zabuza-sama... So I wouldn't have to see someone I cared for... die again. I wanted to protect the person important to me… I wanted to work for that person. I wanted to fight for that person... I wanted to make that person's dream come true… And I'm happy that I did to some extent..." He coughed again, this time harder than before. Death was creeping up on him, and both of them knew it. "The bridge where we fought, both our dreams collided. Me, for my dreams, and you, for yours. Please don't resent me... I didn't mean to kill her."

"What do you mean?" The crimson haired girl's eyebrows knitted together as she narrowed her eyes at Haku. "What do you mean you didn't mean to kill her."

"I've never... never killed a person before." He admitted, "I only knock them out. Your sister... she moved to protect you, so the senbon I aimed to knock you out may have hit her vitals instead... Please... believe me. I didn't mean to do it..."

The malicious aura surrounding Natsumi dissipated almost immediately and she fell to her knees on the sea, staring at her twitching hands.

_"I wish you luck in your future endeavours."_

Then it became so clear. She understood what Haku meant. Haku could've easily killed her from the start by flinging an endless barrage of senbon her way but he didn't because... because he never intended to kill her.

"Oh god..." Natsumi's eyes started to waver again, "Oh god..."

Haku raised his broken arm shakily and placed it on Natsumi's knee in an effort to placate her fear and comfort her.

"Don't worry... It isn't your fault either. I don't resent you... And I hope you don't hate as well..." Haku muttered, "You should go... Leave me, return to your friends and check on them... At least... in the end... I died trying to protect the person most important to me... My purpose is complete. I am happy..." Haku drew a last shuddering breath and left the world with a small pleasant smile.

Haku's words about dreams had struck deeply within her. Her dream to become Hokage? If she couldn't even resolve issues without ending in conflict, allowing her anger to take control of herself, how could she even become the Hokage?

While she was close to the position of the Hokage, a decent candidate as the future Hokage, she still had a lot more to learn before she could proudly proclaim herself as a true candidate to the seat.

But why was there a deep feeling within her heart? The familiar feeling of grief. The feeling of losing someone close to her. She knew that feeling.

Perhaps, somehow, in that short amount of time, Haku had managed to befriend Natsumi, even during their battle, they spoke with actions and not words. Haku's dreams resonated within Natsumi, and the girl felt horrible.

Natsumi bit her lip and clenched her hands tightly, eyes watering heavily before she wiped her tears away with her forearm. She couldn't cry now. Not yet. Scooping up Haku's body, she cradled him close to her as she ran back to the bridge.

* * *

Zabuza felt the pack of dogs chomp down on his limbs, biting down onto his arms and legs with their fangs and preventing him from moving at all. The giant hound that had bitten deeply into his right shoulder pretty much ensured that he could use Kubikiribocho well for the rest of the battle. Provided he could even still use it at all.

Damn it. He hadn't expected this.

Kakashi's plan to catch Zabuza in the thick mist without the use of his Sharingan was to allow Zabuza to attack him before the grey haired Jonin summoned his Ninken (Ninja Hounds) to track the scent of his own blood down. And it worked perfectly.

Now with a chirping handful of crackling electrical energy, Kakashi lined himself up with Zabuza, preparing to impale the man with his hand. Sharingan locking onto Zabuza, there would be no missing of his target.

"Raiki-"

"KAKASHI-SENSEI! STOP!" Natsumi screamed hoarsely, causing all eyes, including Kakashi's hounds, to look glance to the ledge of the bridge where the crimson haired girl stood. The Raikiri that Kakashi had in his hands slowly died out and he man stood up, tired from the battle. In her arms, Haku appeared to slumber silently, his eyes shut and his mouth agape slightly.

Kiba, who was still somewhat conscious couldn't help but stare at the broken body of Haku Natsumi carried in her arms.

Zabuza closed his eyes briefly when he saw his student, obviously dead, in her arms. Jumping down, Natsumi slowly walked towards Zabuza and laid Haku out in front of him.

"He died... He died wanting to protect you."

"HAHAHAHAHA! Looks like one of them is already dead!" Gato and his men marched out from the mist, "Too bad for you boys. There's one less shinobi to kill." The large group of rowdy thugs behind Gato began to groan, but stopped soon after at the sight of the injured Kakashi and Zabuza.

"Natsumi!" Kakashi called the girl as Gato appeared, "Get back!" Natsumi returned to Kakashi's side, walking past Zabuza before glaring at Gato.

Zabuza narrowed his eyes at Gato's appearance as well as the large group of bandits behind him. Each holding onto a different weapon, they shook it around threateningly and grinned at the shinobi.

"What is the meaning of this, Gato?" The bandage-mask wearing shinobi asked, still being held down by the pack of dogs.

"Can't you see? I employed them to get rid of you! I was just waiting for you to kill each other off, but it seems that you can't even do that right!"

"Hmphm. I knew this would happen..." Looking over his shoulder, he directed his gaze towards the kneeling Jonin. "Kakashi, it seems my battle is no longer with you." The Jonin nodded and he recalled his dogs, all of whom popped into smoke and vanished, returning back to their homes. Without anything to hold him, Zabuza staggered for a moment and nearly fell, but caught himself before he could.

Gato laughed loudly before he kicked Haku in the head.

"What can you even do? Your arms are damaged and you can't even fight back."

Natsumi felt her blood boil again at the sight of Haku's body being desecrated by that living subhuman scum. "Gato! Don't you _fucking_ touch him!" She snarled at the stout man before charging at him. Kakashi grabbed her shoulders, holding her back.

"Hey, Natsumi! Stop." She ignored her teacher and continued to struggle for a moment before she snapped her head towards Haku's master, "What about you, Zabuza? Are you just gonna let him do that to Haku?! He was your student!"

Zabuza stared at Gato, eyes as cold as Haku's ice.

"Shut up kid, Haku's already dead… What does it matter?"

_"YOU FUCKER!"_ Natsumi snapped, her eyes "The two of you were together for _YEARS_! Doesn't that mean anything to you?!"

"As I was used by Gato, I used Haku. That's it. I've said it already. In the world of shinobi, there are only those who use and those whom are used. We shinobi are simply tools… Now it's over. His usefulness is at an end. Loss of his strength and skill, yes that means something to me. But the boy? Nothing." Natsumi stopped struggling and scowled. Kakashi released her once he was certain that she wasn't going to do anything foolish.

"If you mean that... You're an even bigger rat than I thought."

Kakashi clasped a hand on Natsumi's shoulder, "Okay, that's enough, Natsumi. Calm down, he's not the enemy. Not right now." That wasn't enough for his student, who pulled her arm away from him with a grunt. It was a miracle that she was still standing. She could barely even feel her arms and legs.

"Shut up! As far as I'm fucking concerned he's enemy number one!" She pointed a finger right at him, and Zabuza glanced backwards. "Why you... You ungrateful bastard! After everything he's done for you. HAKU LIVED FOR YOU! YOU WERE THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN THE _WORLD _TO HIM." She recalled his words to her while they had been fighting.

_'For me, Zabuza-sama is the only person that matters and my one purpose is to protect and serve him. And that purpose is what gives me my strength.'_

"AND HE MEANT _NOTHING_ TO YOU?! AT ALL?! He was sacrificing everything for you and you never felt anything at all for him?!"

_'I will do anything to see that his dream is fulfilled.'_

"He threw his life away... And for _WHAT_?! For you and your fucking dream?!" Natsumi shook her head, gnashing her teeth angrily. "You never let him have a dream of his own, but he didn't care.'

_'I was happy...'_

"An-And you just tossed him aside like he was nothing." Tears openly rolled down her whiskered cheeks as the loss of today caught up with her. With the death of a sister and a sudden friend, Natsumi openly shed her tears. "A broken tool... Man... That's so fucking wrong."

Zabuza finally spoke, having kept his silence and allowing Natsumi to speak freely.

_"You talk too much." _A tear hit the floor, then another, then another and Natsumi watched with wide, wet eyes as the emotionless demon she had been pitted against for the past week began to cry for his fallen apprentice. _"Your words cut deep... Deeper than any blade._ You don't need to say any more… I didn't even have to be there to tell that it pained him to have to fight you… He was too kind. Too kind to have been in this bussiness. I'm glad I got to face you in the end. You may be right… a shinobi is still a human… we may not be able to become emotionless tools…"

Gato began to sniffle loudly and he wiped away an invisible tear, over exaggerating his movements greatly. "Oh boo-hoo! How sad!" He frowned and mocked the two. Kiba growled lowly at Gato but stayed next to the sleeping Sasuke. Not like he could really move much regardless of how much fight he had left in him. "Don't worry so much about it. Soon, you'll be joining your little apprentice, Zabuza. In fact, you'll _all _be joining the little shit!" Zabuza inhaled and sucked his bandages into his mouth before he bit on them and began chewing hard. Once he managed to tear right through it, he spat them out and grinned, showing off two rows of finely sharpened teeth.

"Hey. Brat." Zabuza nodded to Natsumi, "Throw me a kunai, would you?"

Natsumi thought about it for a moment before she reached down to her thigh and pulled out the kunai that was sheathed, throwing it casually to Zabuza. The kunai flipped through the air and spun, but Zabuza paid it no heed.

All he could see was images of his student, his son, in front of him, growing up from that child he had found in the abandoned building to the ice wielder that he had been.

Then he bit down and his teeth gripped the handle of the kunai tightly before dashing towards Gato and his men, murder clear in his eyes. Understandably, Gato panicked and began to run away from the approaching Demon of the Mist, pushing his thugs out of the way as he tried to create distance between him and Zabuza.

"What the...!? Ki-Kill him now! Get rid of him!"

Despite having a kunai in his mouth, Zabuza spoke loud and clearly. "You were wrong! I won't be joining Haku. Where he's gone I cannot follow... We wouldn't be welcome where Haku's gone to. Hell's where we're going, Gato!"

Natsumi, Kiba and Kakashi watched as Zabuza tore through the men with some difficulty, slashing and kicking anyone who got between him and Gato. Eventually, he scared and killed so many people that they practically opened up a path for him to pass right through, and right at the end of it was Gato.

All his screaming and crying did him no good as Zabuza sliced his stomach open and tore an obscene gouge in Gato's neck. Gurgling and clutching aimlessly at the air, the man fell backwards and died. It was nothing over-the-top and nothing grand, just a death suited for a horrible man like him.

Zabuza turned away from Gato's corpse and began to slowly make his way back to the corpse of his fallen son, stumbling and nearly falling half way through. But he was caught by Kakashi and his shoulder was thrown over Kakashi's neck.

"Kakashi..."

"Don't worry. I'll take you to him." Kakashi carried Zabuza to Haku and laid him down right next to him before backing off and allowing Zabuza his last moments with Haku.

The thugs, realising that Gato could no longer pay up as well as the fact that a dying shinobi managed to take out so many of them turned tailed and run, right as Gai, Lee and Neji finally arrived, walking slowly towards them looking fine save for singed hair and slightly damaged clothing. Raiga had put up a decent fight before Naruto had interrupted their battle.

Natsumi decided to leave to check on Hidan's body. Snow began to fall from the dark sky and Natsumi paused for a moment, looking up high to the grey clouds. Holding a hand out, she felt snowflakes drift and fall into her palm, melting in her warm hands.

"Are you crying, Haku? You shouldn't. Now... Now you can be with Zabuza all you want." She laughed quietly to herself, the exhaustion from pushing her body over it's limits and tapping slightly into the Kyuubi's chakra settling it. Delirium was beginning to set in her mind and her emotions were getting fumbled and mixed up.

Her physical body was also finally taking it's toll on being abused so much. Every step caused her entire body to ache and the muscles all over convulsed every so often, twitching and tightening rapidly and randomly. But she didn't even seem to register it any more. Her body was running completely on fumes.

Natsumi's legs suddenly gave out from under her and she tripped and landed onto her side. Pressed up against the cool, hard floor, Natsumi began to blink rapidly as confusion set in her visage.

"Huh?... I can't move... Odd... I feel fine... Maybe I'm just a little..." Pushing herself up, she only got as far as one knee before her eyelids fell over her eyes and she keeled over again, this time completely blacking out under the snowing sky.

* * *

Some time later.

* * *

"Gah!" Natsumi suddenly sat upright in the bed. Her lavender eyes were wide open, frantically glancing about the room. They darted all over the place, from object to object before she realised that she was in Tazuna's home, specifically the spare room that was lent to the female Konoha shinobi. She was currently alone in the room, so she guessed that everyone else was downstairs.

"Shit... How long have I been out for?"

Natsumi tried to stretch her arms, but realised that her chest was being squeezed hard. Looking down, she realised that she was currently in the nude save for numerous bandages wrapped around her delicates. Her luscious red locks streamed over her shoulders and down her chest as well as down her back.

Just before she jumped off the bed, she placed her legs on the tatami flooring of the home and slowly pushed herself off. Seeing that she could stand perfectly fine, she proceeded to test her legs, performing squats and jumps to ensure that she could use them just fine. They hurt just a little, but otherwise she deemed them fine.

"Alright, they're fine." She reached over to her clothes that had been washed and neatly folded on the nearest chair and threw them over her bandages, rushing out of the room and towards the stairs.

* * *

As Natsumi flew down the stairs, landing on the last one, she quickly looked around the living room of the home where she and the rest of the Genin usually hung around at. However, she saw none of them except for her three teachers, all of whom were sitting around the table.

"Er, yo, Kakashi-senpai, Gai-sensei, Kurenai-sensei. Where's everyone? Are they fine? They didn't die did they?" Natsumi walked towards the three and glanced about to ensure that they weren't anywhere else. "How long have I been out for? What's going on? Is this an intervention?" Questions spewed out of her mouth without restraint before Kakashi finally answered her.

"Good morning." Kakashi waved to his student, "It's good to see that you're awake and walking about without any trouble. But you've only been out for at least two hours. So try do try to take it easy."

Kurenai nodded as she held a bag of ice against the back of her head. "You were really badly hurt. Some of your muscles were tearing and most of your body had been punctured by the senbon of that Hyoton user. If it weren't for the Kyuubi-" Natsumi made a face, "-You'd be lucky to even move properly for a week."

"And yes, they're fine. We've just sent everyone else outside while we discussed private matters. Some of which involve you."

"What'dya mean?" The girl plopped herself down at the empty spot around the table, placing her chin in her hands.

"Do you know of a silver haired woman?" Kurenai asked, "One that was on the bridge at the time of the battle?"

"You mean Hidan-nee?" Natsumi sat straighter at the mention of her sister's identifiable hair. She sighed sadly as she remembered her death, "I know her. She was with me on the bridge when I fought Haku and..." She grew silent. "She died protecting me. Where's her body?"

"We've buried her. Along with Haku and Zabuza." There was no mention of Raiga, so Natsumi didn't bother to bring it up. Not like she really cared for him anyway.

"But the thing is that she attacked me on the bridge. With a giant scythe. According to Shino, Sakura and Tazuna, she sliced her hand wide open with it, breaking out of the Genjutsu I sent her under and knocked me out from behind because I let my guard down. Then she proceeded to take down my whole team without killing any of us."

"What? Are you sure you got the right, Hidan?" Natsumi raised an eyebrow as she questioned Kurenai, "That doesn't sound like the Hidan-nee I know. She's was a nun or a preacher of some religion and was really friendly when I met her. We became really close during that one week we were together..." Natsumi shrugged the sadness away for now, "Besides, when she was there with me she didn't have any scythe or cut on her hands. She looked completely untouched. There was no Genjutsu or anythin' on her, so that's out of the question."

"I see... Well, whomever it was, I had to drag Shino, Sakura and Tazuna to the ledge I created on the pillar under the bridge to hide from Gato." Kurenai narrowed her eyes as she fell back into her thoughts, "I guess we'll have to chalk it up to someone else then...?"

Gai then clearly his throat and regarded Natsumi, "Speaking of 'someone else'... Your brother was also there on the bridge with us, Natsumi-kun."

"What?!" Natsumi's knees slammed into the table and she scampered to stand up, "Naru-nii's was here?! I gotta go-"

"Calm down, Natsumi-kun!" Gai held his hand out, withholding any information from her unless she relaxed. Natsumi licked her lips and reluctantly sat back down, staring intently at Gai. "He _was _here. As in, he is no longer here. We met by accident and he revealed that he was here because he had heard that a few of the Seven Swordsmen were at Wave terrorising the villagers and that he wanted their swords. For what reason, I'm not too sure." Gai shook his head, "He killed Raiga and shortly after you lost control of your power and we had to turn back for you, he fled and left with the Kiba."

Natsumi's fist slammed against the table, surprising Kurenai but not Kakashi and Gai. They knew how badly she wanted to bring him back to Konoha and hearing that he had been there, not too far from her, made her upset.

"Damn it!" She drew a deep breath and quickly calmed herself down, "It's all my fault. I let my anger get the better of me and I caused him to get away because everyone had to worry about the Kyuubi getting free."

Kakashi waved his student's worries away, smiling at her. "Maa~ Natsumi... It isn't your fault. If only I had been a better teacher, I would've stopped Haku from separating us and could've beaten Zabuza sooner."

"Mine as well." Gai spoke grimly, "My flames of Youth simply didn't burn brightly. Had it been a roaring flame, I am certain that I would've been able to bring him back to Konoha! For my mistakes I will do a thousand-" Kurenai clapped her hands and Gai found himself mute to all but himself, so while he was under the silencing Genjutsu, Kurenai spoke over him.

"It was my fault as well, Natsumi." Kurenai admitted, removing the bag of melted ice from her scalp. "Had I paid more attention, I wouldn't have gotten knocked out by... Um... Whoever it was that pretended to look be that woman. Maybe I could've returned and helped you against Haku."

"See Natsumi? Everyone had faults during this mission. You lost control of your emotions because you saw someone you cared for sacrifice themselves for you. That's just human nature. Nothing wrong with that. Not to mention how much more emotional you are compared to most people. And we didn't worry about the Kyuubi, we were all worried about you. Did you know Sasuke was so worried about you that he managed to activate his Sharingan?" Natsumi was surprised at the news of Sasuke's Sharingan and was proud of him for finally unlocking it. It also touched her somewhat that her comrades and teachers cared that much.

Kakashi leaned over the table and patted her head, ruffling her hair with care. "All we can do is get stronger for the future and prevent it from ever happening again."

"You're right... Next time... Next time I'll definitely bring him back." Her eyes were lit with determination. Then Natsumi stood up and stretched, "What happened to those thugs that accompanied Gato on the bridge?"

"Ah, them. Remember that speech you gave Inari when he pissed you off?"

Natsumi scratched her head as she thought about it. "I remember. Vaguely."

"He managed to rally the villagers and pretty much chased them all out of the country. Because of you and your words."

"Not bad. Not bad at all... But I just gave him a little push s'all. He was the one who decided to act on it." She admitted, secretly pleased with herself. "Also, who did my bandages?"

Kakashi raised his hand, looking away while he grinned slyly behind his mask. "Why I did, Natsumi-kun." He giggled perversely, "Being my dear student, I volunteered myself to remove all of your clothes and clean you off myself-" The Jonin suddenly broke out into a sweat when Natsumi's burning gaze began working on melting the pervert's head off his shoulders.

"_Ho?_ I don't suppose you mind if I disclose this information to _Hokage-sama himself? Do you? Hmmmm?!_" Her hair begun to float up in nine clumps, eerily dancing behind her like the tails of the Kyuubi had done over a decade ago.

"No, wait! WAIT! I was kidding Natsumi!" Kakashi was legitimately afraid now. If the Yondaime and his wife found out that a man, even if that man was the Yondaime's trusted student, had touched their daughter inappropriately, _someone was going to die._ "It was a joke! A praaaaaank!"

"Ignore your idiot teacher." Kurenai cuffed her colleague's head. "Hinata assisted me in cleaning and tending to your wounds and helped to bandage you up."

Natsumi bowed and thanked the female teacher before excusing herself. Passing by Gai, who was doing push-ups with his thumbs, Natsumi left the house and headed towards the hill where the dead were buried.

* * *

The redhead squatted in front of the fresh dirt and the grave markers. Simple wooden crosses had been erected for them all, with Zabuza's blade being buried behind it. She knew the locals wouldn't dare to desecrate the graves of the people who, while having worked for him, had a hand in stopping Gato.

There wasn't much else she wanted to say. She simply realised just how silent it was and prayed for them in the afterlife.

"Oi. Dobe." Sasuke leaned against a tree and called out to his best friend, "You okay?"

Natsumi continued to stare at the graves, but smirked at the sound of Sasuke's voice. "Yeah, Teme." She got up and dusted her hands before spinning around and walked past Sasuke. "I heard you got your Sharingan. About damn time don't you think? Maybe then you wouldn't lose as much in our spars." She chuckled as Sasuke visibly fumed.

"I don't lose. We always end in ties!"

"Denial's the first step, Teme-chan."

"Why you-! Then prove it! Let's spar later!"

"Eh? But I'm grievously wounded. I can barely even move properly."

"Don't try to get out of this!" The two squabbled as they left the graves and argued down the hill the dead had been buried on. Had they stayed for a while longer, they would've seen Hidan's grave rumble slightly before a hand slowly emerged from the fresh grave.

* * *

Sitting on a large patch of grass, the beach before him and the forest behind him, Naruto waited patiently. He wasn't annoyed that he had to wait for his partner, but was more worried were something to happen to her. Hearing the dead leaves that littered the floor crumple under the feet of someone behind him, Naruto didn't have to look over his shoulder to know that Hidan had arrived. The furious under-the-breath-mutterings gave her away almost immediately.

"You're finally here. Glad to see that you're fine."

"Ugh." She brushed chunks of dirt off her robes. "Yeah. Just really fucking dirty after they buried me so fucking deep into the ground."

"Buried you?"

Hidan hummed, "That ice punk's senbons pretty much killed me, or put me into a near death state. They must've thought I was dead, which was a good thing since I wouldn't have had an excuse if I was still alive. I only just woke up only a while ago underground."

"Speaking of which, were you there when my sister-"

"Yep. But at that point I was already passing out. So I don't know much of what happened afterwards." Hidan glanced at Naruto, who had discarded his mask to his side. His face was emotionless, but she could easily see the worry that plagued him earlier on. It made her smile to see the man she cared for care so deeply for his family. She thought it was a pretty attractive trait. "That must've sucked, huh? She's right there, not too far from you, and you can't do anything to help her. And you're afraid that she'll slip right out of your fingers. I know that feeling"

Hidan's eyes grew tired and old as she stared out at the sea. The unforgettable image of a woman with beautiful brown hair, smiling down at her despite the bruises on her face and body came fresh into her mind. "Speaking from experience, I get how you must've felt... But how did you know that she'd be able to beat the Kyuubi?" Naruto obviously hadn't intervened to stop Natsumi's anger.

Naruto closed his eyes as he listened to the gentle waves crashing into the shore. Words from so long ago reminded him of why he had held his ground and believed in Natsumi.

_'Naru-nii! I'm gonna be the Hokage, so you better trust me and my decisions, 'kay?! I'll make Konoha super awesome! If you don't believe me I'm gonna be really mad!'_

Opening his eyes, Naruto joined Hidan at staring out at the setting sun and orange sea, "Because I trust her."

Hidan grinned and socked Naruto in the arm again, "I also noticed that you didn't blow the bridge up. I was pretty disappointed by that. Because of you I had to dig my way out of my own grave instead of disappearing with the explosion. You know how damn troublesome it is?"

"I wouldn't know." Naruto smirked as he dusted sand off of his mask, "I tend not to die so easily."

His retort earned him a scowl. "You're the worst." She gave him a thumbs down and poked her tongue out at him. They descended into silence before Naruto spoke up.

"So... Did you enjoy making friends with my sister?"

"Yeah, I- Eh?!" Hidan recoiled in shock, "How'd you-?" Immediately after, she covered her mouth, realising that she had given herself away regardless if or not he had been lying. Hell. They just had an entire conversation about Natsumi. "Shit! You tricked me!"

"No. I didn't trick you. You're just dumb, Hidan." A middle finger was sent his way, "After a little bit of thinking, I could tell that you were meeting my sister." Naruto admitted. While he had been working in the cave, painting the paper bombs and testing out a new technique that he was developing, Naruto had picked up on the faint scent that lingered on Hidan. It was only after a few days that he finally pieced together where that smell was from. A conditioner Natsumi used for her hair. "She also has a strange knack for making friends with anyone she wants to."

"Yeah, well... Natsumi-chan's pretty cool. I'm her big sister, y'know? So it kinda sucks that she thinks I'm dead. Eh, I'm sure I can surprise her in the future." Hidan stood up and started to shake her feet vigorously, sending sand in all directions. Getting sand in her sandals annoyed her greatly.

Naruto stood as well, placing his mask on his forehead. "Here." Naruto pulled the twin swords out from behind him and tossed them towards her. She plucked them out of the air, examining them on both sides.

"Oooh." They were sharp and shiny. She liked sharp and shiny. "I can just picture these babies in fresh blood!" With some help from Naruto, she sealed her new weapons into the seals in her palms. Naruto had modified it not too long ago to store even more objects.

"I noticed you didn't take Kubikiribocho with you?"

"Nah. Those damned villagers would probably flip if I did. Natsumi-chan would too." The idea of angering her little sister after tricking her into thinking that she had died was not a pleasant one. And she knew that Natsumi wouldn't take too kindly to the violation of the dead's graves.

"Hidan respecting the dead...?" He muttered absently with a soft chuckle, "That's a first." Hidan shrugged and proceeded to hug her scythe, nearly impaling her own face on it.

"I'm happy enough with my scythe as it is. So I guess it ain't that big of a loss." She gave it a big kiss on the middle blade and Naruto grimaced a little, hoping that she had at least washed it since she last used it.

In fact, he just hoped she had washed it at all. Then again, it's owner **was **Hidan - so probably not.

"We'd better get moving soon." Naruto slid his mask over his face and readjusted his bag on his back. "I don't want us to get caught lingering around Wave. I'm quite tired of fighting for today." Naruto started walking on the beach away from the way they had entered Wave from, going in the complete opposite direction. It was a long detour, but it ensured that they didn't get caught by shinobi who would recognise him and under the guise of evening, they could hide even better.

Few recognised Hidan for many reasons. Mainly because she lingered around Yugakure before her time with Naruto, thus narrowing her notoriety. Not to mention that she was considered to be a rumour and a myth, cooked up by the locals of Yugakure to keep people away. Many shinobi were also unwilling to go to the distant Yugakure to search for an apparently unkillable shinobi. What kind of idiot would do that? It was a waste of time and effort. There were many factors in play for why she was unrecognisable, and Naruto attributed this to Hidan's ever-changing luck.

Hidan joined him in standing, "Where we headed to next? Oooh~! Can we go to a casino? I really want to try gambling." Knowing her fluctuating luck, it probably wasn't that good of an idea. Naruto didn't have to think twice about it.

"You'd just get mad after you lose your money and start killing everyone. So no."

Hidan sneered at the idea, "Whaaaat... What a ridiculous assumption! You wanna fuckin' die?!" Bursting out into laughter, the two walked together with the intention of leaving the country they had a hand in saving.

* * *

"Aww... I think they're cute together. I can tell that they like each other a lot-"

**"Quiet, fool." **Black Zetsu hissed harshly to his white counter part. **"Akatsuki needs three more members before it is completed. If the two of them join, then only one will be left."**

"Yeah, that's if nobody else betrays us." White Zetsu giggled happily, "I hope they do though. And if they do, I hope they're chewy too! It's been a while since we've eaten unique shinobi." He sighed sadly, shaking their heads much to Black Zetsu's annoyance, "All the other shinobi have been so subpar in taste!"

Black Zetsu sighed before they sunk back into the tree branch, leaving the two unaware shinobi to their next adventure while the split-personality plant man headed to Iwagakure to scout out the potential last member.

* * *

_Chapter End._

* * *

Thanks for reading. There's an explanation on why there's so many words down below, in case you were wondering.

You might've noticed the rather large amount of words in this chapter (22K) compared to my usual (7K). Reason being the first draft of the chapter was originally 7K words, but then I realised that I didn't really like it (that one involved Natsumi finding out about Hidan being a bad guy). So I rewrote it and continued to write until I got to 12K, then I realised that there was a better way to do it (that version involved the bridge blowing up). So I extended it all the way to 19K. Then finally, I realised there was an even better way to do it, so I made a new page and started fresh again, taking out some parts in the last rewrite and placing them into this one whilst adding on and rewriting some parts (This final version does not include the bridge blowing up).

I'm just so tired. I hope that by posting this, maybe I can get this damn weight off my back.


	8. Welcome to the Family

Hey guys! The reviews for the last chapter warmed my heart a lot. Always awesome to see people supporting me even though I took such a long break. Unfortunately, culinary school is going to start taking up much more time once I enter my second term. Three days of working 8-4 at a restaurant and two days of school, one of which is practical and the other theory. Theory ain't so hard. It's pretty garbage actually. You don't really need to try at all since you pass even if you fail.

Practical and the working days are going to be tough though. Practical in itself is already four hours of prepping, cooking and cleaning. But hey, it's fun. Well, as fun as standing around and handling fire can be, but I can't complain. Don't really have an interest in taking part in competitions either though. Not my sort of thing.

Anyways, enough about me. I'd like to answer some reviews publicly:

_ncpfan: I'd really like to see more of Kushina's reactions to things, especially how she's dealing with Naruto's defection in the aftermath of it all and if it's causing any conflicts between her and Minato at all (I can imagine she must have been enraged when he put Naruto's name in the Bingo Book to cover up their mistakes and didn't step down as Hokage, knowing that they were the ones responsible for Naruto's becoming the man he now is)._

U: Kushina and her reaction to everything else will be covered more in the later chapters. There's only a little snippet of it here. But regarding the rest of the question, that doesn't really make sense. While he is her son, he is _still_ a criminal. And it's to be taken in _alive __only. _So there's no real reason she should be mad about it. And stepping down as Hokage wouldn't really solve anything. Who else is going to take charge? Danzo? Yeah, no one else really wants that.

**(And no, to the people who have asked, Kushina will definitely not be divorcing Minato or even ending up with Naruto. Or Mikoto with Naruto. Because frankly, that doesn't make any sense at all. I'm all for KushNaru or whatever but come on, that's just silly.)**

* * *

_Deiru Tamashi: __Huh. You know, I actually rather liked this chapter. I thought that it rather fit the title for it, especially considering the rage that Natsumi felt before and during her change. I do think that you made a good decision in choosing to not blow up the bridge, as I don't think that would have even been worth it. The scene of Hidan's hand coming out of the grave was highly surreal, and I enjoyed it._

_If I I had to say one thing, it would be that Zabuza's final charge and subsequent death weren't given as much detail as I would have liked, but that could just be own personal preferences talking. I did like the display of Naruto's inner struggle between staying in character and caring for his sister. Altogether, I did enjoy this chapter and very much hope for more._

U: This. This is the sort of review I enjoy reading. Constructive but also points out what they liked about the review. Thank you so, so, so much for it. Regarding Zabuza's final moments and the consequent slaying, there was already 22K words at the time of writing and I really didn't want to add any more since it was already stretching it. I'll try to take note of this in the future and improve on it.

* * *

**NEW EDIT: Alright. I think I need to address this review a guest decided to leave behind.**

_Guest: Here I am, thinking Naruto was some kind of badass, and yet, after a simply display of power, he starts acting like a cowed little bitch. I know joining the akatsuki was his goal, but the way you went about it made Naruto look pathetic and weak as fuck. With that said, this chapter has COMPLETELY destroyed any and all interest I previously had in this story. Goodbye._

U: I really, **REALLY **hate that I have to explain this to anyone but clearly from your well-thought out review I do.

If you **honestly** thought that Naruto was going to pick a fight with a guy stronger than him you might have gotten my Naruto mixed up with somebody else's. Naruto isn't retarded. He isn't going to pick a fight with someone he know he can't beat. Not even with Hidan helping him.

And I don't really see how yielding to an enemy makes him 'pathetic and weak as fuck'. It's called 'not being a fucking idiot'.

But enough of that. Here's the newest chapter. I hope you enjoy it.

* * *

Quaint as can be, the shop that lined the side of the lonely dirt road was quiet despite the amount of customers it contained. Segregated into their own respective groups, the customers chatted with hushed whispers amongst themselves so as to not disturb their neighbours.

At the very front of the store, with his back facing the entrance, Naruto was absently flipping through his black book, reading through the newest edition of it for any new entries. Gathering data on any enemy that came their way was always helpful.

For once in a long time, Naruto was without his mask. Temporarily removing it and swapping it for a loose scarf that was draped over and around his neck. Chances of being recognised by the common folk were slim to none since Naruto's image was usually plastered onto Bingo Books instead of posters. Most of the time, unless one had a morbid curiosity, only shinobi carried the books with them. So Naruto had chosen to ditch his mask as of now and wear a loose scarf around his lower features instead, hiding his slightly stitched mouth from sight. It was rather reliving not having to wear his mask, even if it was short lived. Vision uninhibited from the small holes he saw out from and darkness that covered his peripherals when he bore his mask, Naruto could see everything around him clearly again, both literally and in the metaphorical sense.

Hidan was slowly banging her forehead against the wooden table, groaning lowly as she repeated the action over and over again in the hopes that it would annoy the owners of the establishment to hurry it up. With each collision, the necklace dedicated to Jashin was sent clinking nosily against her headband, and even her breasts jiggled in a very eye-catching manner. Reason for her actions was that she had been waiting far too long for her damn desserts and she was getting tired of it.

Either that or she was getting a little too stir-crazy ever since they had left Wave a few days ago. Doing nothing but training must've been boring to her, especially when her unmoving targets bled not even a drop of blood.

Frustrating as it may have been for her there was simply nothing to do while being wedged between the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind in the small country that was known simply as the Land of Rivers, home to the Village Hidden in Valleys. They couldn't make too much noise lest they stir up the metaphorical hornets nests that sat right next to them, so they were currently trying their best to keep a low profile.

Nothing interesting had happened save for training and the development of new techniques, but otherwise everything was smooth sailings.

Breaking the monotonous chain of action, she sat back up and threw a glare behind her shoulder at the old man who ran the cashier. The elderly employee had been giving her a rude stare from behind at her apparent show of disrespect and poor behaviour, but was shocked even further when she suddenly shot him with a glare a hundred times worse than his. Had her companion not flicked her in the back of the head without even looking up from his book, causing her glare to die off almost immediately, the old man would've probably died. Shooting a scowl at Naruto for ruining her fun, she looked back at the old man and slammed her fist into the table, gathering the attention of the other patrons had they not already been staring in annoyance when she was rattling her brain against the table.

"Where's my fucking _foooooood?"_ Almost as if it had been timed, the doors to the kitchen opened and a young boy came running out, carrying a tray full of delicious looking desserts. Sticks of colourful dango shined deliciously under a generous layer of sweet syrup and heaps of piping hot dorayaki sat on top of each other, their fine red bean paste visible between the spongy yet firm pancake that encased it. He began making his way to each table, distributing the ordered desserts before moving on to the table that currently sat two S-ranked shinobi.

Of course, it wasn't as if any of those people in there knew who they were. They were but mere civilians and unless they had gotten their hands onto the latest edition of the Bingo Book, Naruto highly doubted that they would be recognised.

With quick feet, the boy slid what remained on the tray, a number of plates of the heavenly looking deserts and two cups of steaming tea, onto the table. Then the boy paused in front of Hidan after taking a step forwards, and for a brief moment, Naruto thought that they had been caught and recognised.

But alas, upon closer inspection Naruto realised that the young boy was just interested in the beautiful Hidan and her exotic hair. Well, those aspects of her as well as her very open cleavage. Naruto had to stifle a chuckle at the sight of the young boy enthralled by Hidan's sizeable breasts, acting as if he were some old toad sage pervert.

Somewhere in the Elemental Nations, Jiraiya of the Sannin sneezed and smiled proudly. Someone must've been talking good about him again.

Returning back to the wayward pair, Hidan noticed the boy staring at her as if she were a goddess and figured that it must've been one of those first crushes sort of thing. It was cute and flattering, but she had someone else in mind for that sort of thing. Glancing towards Naruto, she lifted an eyebrow at him and the silently communicated through their eyes. It was amazing just how well they could understand each other just from a few months of spending time together.

Naruto gave a silent shrug and set his Bingo Book aside. Taking his cup into his hands, he blew at the cup of tea to cool it down before taking a sip. Whatever the case, he wasn't about to get jealous at a boy who was just interested in a pair of lovely breasts. It was just a kid, and Hidan seemed to have it covered.

Plucking the skewer out from between her lips, the silverette leaned her head forwards and shot him a beautiful smile. "Hey there, kiddo." The boy immediately looked up and blushed at the sound of her voice, staring right into her large purple eyes. They weren't sure if it was because he had been caught in the blatant act or if it was because she had spoken to him, but it didn't really matter. "What's your name?"

"Shiba-" The skewer Hidan had been twirling around on her fingers was sent into the wooden table, embedding the thin piece of sharpened wood into the sturdy structure with a loud twang as it shook violently. Shocked by the attack and sudden movement, the boy jumped slightly and yelped in horror.

"I don't _care_ what the hell your name is, you shitty brat." Hidan followed her growl out by pounding the table with the bottom of her fist, "Stare at my boobs any longer and the next things these babies are going into are your eyes." With a wave of her hand, two more sticks suddenly appeared in between her once-empty fingers.

That was enough of a warning to send the boy scampering away with fear evident on is face, nearly tripping on himself as he took off towards the kitchen doors with the metal tray in his hands. Awesome breasts or not, they were not worth losing his eyes over.

"Hah!" Hidan barked out a unladylike laugh at the sight of the running child. That would teach 'em to stare. The rest of the patrons frowned or outright scowled at her actions but returned to eating their meals. Suddenly, she lost her amusement and stared straight at him, totally serious.

"I would've done it you know." She suddenly said without any prompt, confusing Naruto, "Totes would've made him blind. Don't doubt me on that."

Naruto squinted his eyes at Hidan, "Why would you assume that I would doubt you on that?"

"I'm losing street cred here, Naruto." Hidan mumbled somewhat grouchily. Leaning forwards, she whispered angrily, jabbing at the table as she spoke to the blonde, "People used to fear me! Look at me now!" She threw the patrons a glance who were busy digging into their meals, "They aren't trembling in fear!" It was ridiculous! The lack of blatant disrespect made her fingers twitch. "No one recognises me any more..."

"We're a long way from Yugakure," Then Naruto gave her a look of doubt. "And even then they never recognised you before." The only reason Hidan had any form of fame was because of the myths surrounding her and her immortality in Yugakure and that in itself was limited to the surroundings of the village, so unless rumours of a silver haired psycho came floating out then she didn't have to worry all that much. And when Naruto had met her, the Kirigakure team she had encountered and slaughtered only knew of her immortality because she had stated so.

With a low whine, Hidan sniffed sadly at her lack of notoriety whilst continuing to eat her food with fervour. The sight of her eating while depressively shaking her head made Naruto smile. But he decided to cheer her up.

"Well, maybe the reason you're not infamous is because you tend to kill everyone that comes our way. So technically you would be very infamous had they lived to tell your tale." With that, Hidan's eyes lost their welled up tears and grew wide. Even her mouth had stopped chewing temporarily as if was thinking about how she hadn't even considered that.

"I haven't even considered that!" Yup. Naruto wasn't even that surprised any more having been used to her antics. As soon as her excitement had come, it left leaving her in a calmer state. "But I think sending them Jashin-sama's way is more better than being known. I still kick ass anyway."

"Speaking of that, how's your training coming along?" Naruto asked as he yanked the makeshift senbon out from the table and tossed it to the plate she had designated to collect the sticks of the dango. Flexing his hands into fists, Naruto felt the dull ache that informed him of how well his recovery was going along. The development of his technique had rendered his hands and forearms numb for a few days but he had managed to pull through. Even during Wave when Hidan was visiting his little sister Naruto had been developing his new move but it was a high-risk high-reward technique that had the potential to cripple the user for a few days via having their muscle tear and bones crack.

Thankfully for Naruto he did not have to experience either of that since he had been physically conditioning his body after a crushing defeat to Itachi when they were still children. The Uchiha boy's words at the time had influenced him greatly and what resulted in who he was today.

"It's going pretty damn well." Hidan pulled the baggy sleeve of her fuzzy robe backwards and revealing her pale arm. Flexing as hard as she could, Hidan revealed that she had gained an impressive amount of muscle in just a few months. The comparison was quite obvious since before she joined Naruto in whatever it was that he was doing searching for that top-secret group she only had enough power to swing her rather hefty scythe around. Now, with lots of exercise forced onto her on Naruto's part, she had enough strength to handle it properly. Fighting was much easier when she didn't have to rely so heavily on physics, the weight of her scythe and using momentum to increase the power of her swings. She could still do all that with the added bonus of attacking even harder and faster than before. It wasn't much but it was still an improvement she gladly accepted.

Noting that Naruto was silently observing her arm, Hidan grinned cockily. "I know. I'm pretty ripped, right? Heh, no need to be impressed."

"No," Naruto pulled his scarf down slightly and revealed his mouth to her as well as his whiskered cheeks. Raising the cup to his lips, he closed his eyes and sipped gently at the steaming liquid, "I was just reminded of a chicken wing."

"I'll stab you, fucker!" Hidan pulled her sleeve back down shamefully and grumbled at him once she realised that he was just pulling her leg, "Whatever! Mock me all you want. I'm going back to eating."

"I thought you preferred ribs?" Having picked the information up awhile back with an attentive ear, Naruto commented at the sight of Hidan returning back to shoving stick after stick of dango down her throat in a gluttonous manner.

"My favourites _are_ ribs," Having swallowed the mouthful of chewed sweets, Hidan pulled the stick of the dango out from her mouth in a rude fashion, waving it around absently like she was casting a spell, "But I don't really mind sweet shit. Not really preferred but it's not like I have much of a selection." She gestured towards the list of foods that lined the walls, all of which were more appealing to the taste-buds of sweetness. "Can't stand veggies though. Just... bleh." She stuck her tongue out and made a face at that and Naruto just bobbed his head along with her words.

"I know. I just thought sweets didn't rank up on your list high either." It took her a second to register his words, but Hidan was actually pretty surprised that he had remembered what her liked and disliked dishes were. Most of the time he was the quiet one in their conversations and spoke little but knowing that he was paying attention made her smile endearingly at him.

The wind-chime that hung at the front of the wooden store sang with a gentle tinkle when a breeze past it, playing a sweet tune that encompassed the voices of the patrons for a brief moment. It was nice for once to not be chased by people who wanted their heads or to be involved in some kind of fight. Relaxing and spending time with each other was always nice. But as Hidan downed her piping hot tea in one go, slamming her glass back onto the table, they were reminded that their short break was over and that it was time to hit the road again.

By the time the chime sang again, all that was left of the pair were cleared out plates, two empty teacups and a number of notes to pay for their meal. The thankfully relieved old man was not included in that.

* * *

_In Konoha._

* * *

_Natsumi was surprised to find herself swept up in a big hug the moment she stepped foot through her front door. She hadn't even had time to even call out that she had reached home when it had happened. Face buried within the bosom of her mother, Natsumi found herself victim to a series of pats, hugs and kisses to the top of her head from a violently worried mother, who had swooped in and embraced her beloved daughter in a hug._

_"Kaa-chan!" Natsumi writhed within the older woman's grasp, taken back in surprise at how fast the housewife was. To be fair, the woman had been a Jonin before retiring once she gave birth to Naruto. "You're killin' me here!"_

_After a few moments, Kushina pulled away and looked at Natsumi with watery eyes, showing just how worried she had been. Cupping her face in her hands lovingly, Kushina ran her thumbs over the dirty cheeks of the younger lookalike she had birthed._

_"Oh Natsumi!" She sniffed sadly, pressing her cheek into her daughter's whiskered one, "I thought you were badly hurt or maybe even died!" Kushina had heard from the toad summons again that a fight had broken out, but the Konoha shinobi had worked together and survived it with no more than just injuries and exhaustion. Still, with the letter she had sent detailing everything that had happened, Kushina was a complete mess in Konoha and would've run all the way to Wave without stopping just to see her daughter. "Please don't leave your Kaa-chan, 'ttebane!" _

_The younger female didn't have to think very hard about it but it was clear why her mother was so worried. She had already lost one of her children who, while she did not actively show it, did love dearly. _

_Actually losing the other to death would've definitely broken her mentally._

_While some might have blamed their parents for such a thing, Natsumi didn't. It was equally her fault as well for not having spoken up about Naruto's condition of being mostly ignored to her parents. She knew her mother would do anything to get her firstborn, one of her babies, back and blamed herself for being part of the reason he had turned bad._

_With a sad smile, Natsumi wrapped her hands around the waist of her mother, hugging her back with equal intensity. She wasn't going to leave her mommy any time soon. Hell. No. The last thing she wanted was to completely break her mother's heart._

_"I'm ain't going anywhere Kaa-chan." She mumbled into Kushina's bosom before pulling her face out and smiling tiredly at her, "But I'm pretty dirty... and tired. Think you could let me take a shower?"_

_"Oh!" Kushina released her second child and stood back to full height, remembering that she did just come back from a particularly treacherous mission. Wiping away her tears, Kushina nodded. "Right! Right! I'll prepare some food so come down when you're done, okay?"_

_Natsumi's hopeful eyes widened at the prospect of lunch and was just as large her sudden grin was, "Ramen?" She asked, Kushina smiled down at her daughter, her sadness washed away by the sweet child before her._

_"Ramen." She confirmed with a lovely smile, much to the excitement of a pleased Natsumi._

_"Awesome! Give me twenty minutes though! I'm gonna use the bath." Natsumi gained a surprising amount of energy from the confirmation alone and dashed off in a burst of speed, running up the stairs towards the second floor of their house where her room was, leaving a smiling Kushina behind._

* * *

_Konoha - Inside Natsumi's seal._

* * *

"What was that all about?" Natsumi sat in the darkness of the seal, staring beyond the bars that were unilluminated. While she could not see beyond it, Natsumi could still feel the presence of the Kyuubi stirring at the sound of her voice. Having just had a nice warm soak, a filling lunch of ramen, and enough time to rest up again, she felt ready to take on anything that got in her way.

The Kyuubi answered her question by cracking a glowing red eye open, staring right at her but said nothing. Lying down with his chin over his crossed paws, the Kyuubi tilted his head until both eyes were staring her down. Not deterred by the rather scary sight, Natsumi pushed onwards with a small frown adorning her pretty features. In fact, her whisker marks were twitching quite a bit in annoyance.

"You were all like _'Use your rage! Let them know what it's like to fear you!'_ I thought we were buddies! And you were totally happy!"

"**Foolish child! Do not delude yourself into thinking that we are anything closer than warden and prisoner." **The Kyuubi slowly rose his head up until he towered over Natsumi. With a low growl, he sneered at the girl for thinking such. She could be as friendly to him as she wanted to and he wouldn't care all that much. But when it came to doubting his intentions of helping her out, the Kyuubi took great offence. **"We are acquainted as victims of circumstances. I merely helped you in beating your foe in order to prevent a painfully slow and agonising reincarnation. Despite what you might think, we Biju can still feel pain." **

That wasn't enough to please Natsumi, especially when she had first made contact with him. He had been quite nice -or at least as nice as a giant vulpine beast made entirely of chakra could be- when they had first met up in her seal. "But you still made me-"

"**Your ignorance is overwhelming." **The glare intensified greatly as he growled lowly at her, baring his massive fangs that were the size of adult males threateningly despite being unable to physically harm her. **"Disregarding the fact that he had no intention of killing you... Did you honestly think that you would have won against the ice user without my help?" **There was a long awkward silence that hung in the air as Natsumi thought it over, and the Kyuubi voiced her thoughts. **"No. You would not have. I was the one who helped you and the only way to do that was to remind you to be angry."**

Natsumi was stunned for a moment when she realised that the Kyuubi was right. If it hadn't been for the Kyuubi's power and chakra giving her the sudden surge in power she needed to overpower Haku, she would've definitely lost.

Hidan's death had caused her pent up anger to explode outwards like an erupting volcano and was thus the perfect time for the vulpine beast to assist her by funnelling a tiny smidgen of his power to her.

Sure, maybe he would've escaped if the opportunity presented itself, but he did actually have the full intention of saving her hide and only told her to get angrier because he had gotten quite excited at the prospect of seeing a foe die before him. It had been far too long since he had the opportunity to partake in the quashing of a human being. Inhabiting a teenage girl's body for a full decade and then some could grow quite boring without any blood and gore, and he didn't mean the type that came every month.

Ugh. Humans were strange creatures. Especially the women.

As his tails flickered behind him, the Kyuubi's eyes lost their menacing glow from surprise when Natsumi bit her lip and arched forwards in a low bow to apologise.

"I'm sorry..." Natsumi had learnt long ago that admitting to her mistakes and wrongdoings was something very important as a Hokage. If the Hokage was so prideful as to disregard whatever mistake they made due to pride then they weren't really that much of a Hokage anyway, "I shouldn't have blamed you for that. I just thought that you were purposefully trying to egg me on or something like that." Rising back up, she had an awkward smile on her face, "So again, I'm sorry. Sorry for pushing the blame onto you. I was just pretty upset that you were going crazy inside of me."

Being the Biju inside of the Jinchuuriki, the Kyuubi could easily sense the storm of emotions that came with every teenager going through puberty. They weren't full of bad intentions and lies at all. But all his weak siblings had been sealed and used by humans and he couldn't trust one so easily yet regardless if or not she had good intentions. She wasn't the strongest so it wasn't as if she couldn't be used by others like some kind of puppet. And she even apologised for her mistake instead of being prideful.

No. He couldn't trust her yet. It was simply in his instincts not to do so. Not to say that he wouldn't lend a hand to her now and then when she truly needed his power but as of now he still couldn't hand his power over to her willingly when she had yet to prove herself strong enough to not be used by others. Her father may have been the strongest in the village but it didn't necessarily mean that he wouldn't die in battle. Anyone could die. Even someone as mighty as the Kyuubi himself could die would his host perish.

But returning to the situation at hand, he would not allow himself to stoop to the level of his siblings who were caged up and used as the weapons of their respective host's villages.

Still, having a host such as the little child before him was not as bad as he thought. While he was definitely confined at least he wasn't being pestered by the hundreds upon thousands of humans who had tried to harness his powers as their own so that was a plus. And while he hated to acknowledge it, his relationship with his host was admittedly amicable. The girl was nice and respected him as a sentient being instead of a mindless beast.

To be fair, he _had _gone on violent rampages, but still, the point was still there.

From what little he knew from snippets of conversations, some of his brethren had it much worse than him. Being chained down and nailed to prevent movement. Compared to him, they certainly had it worse. Much, much worse. At least in her, while cramped, he could sleep and move comfortably without being pinned down.

The Kyuubi stared at Natsumi for quite some time before he came to some kind of conclusion and returned back to lying on his paws.

"**Tch... Think before you speak next time, brat." **The Kyuubi closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, **"Is that not what is required of you for your measly goals of becoming the leader to your village, or even bringing that interesting human back?" **He recalled just how heartbroken the girl had been when the one person she had loved with all her heart became a traitor. A pity. He was a very interesting one even by the standards of pitiful humans.

Natsumi widened her eyes, "You mean Naru-nii?"

"**Yes, little pervert. The one you fantasize over and call your brother. Humans are so strange. Why would touching yourself so intimately be so arousing?" **The large fox snickered loudly. He didn't have to open his eyes to see that his host was currently feeling some kind of embarrassed from having been watched.

"Wh-Whatever!" Natsumi spluttered indignantly when the Kyuubi admitted to watching her 'down-time'. But she quickly regained her composure and stood ramrod again, a confident smile rising to her face.

"But you know what?"

Feeling the surge in confidence rising in his host, the Kyuubi wondered what she was thinking about and was amused enough to open his eyes back up and respond.

"**What, perverse one?" **Natsumi's eye twitched slightly, **"What is it that is so important that you truly need to tell me?"**

"I've got another goal now." Raising her hand up to the beast who had snapped his eyes back open again in confusion, Natsumi pointed her three fingers up into the air.

"One." A finger went down, "I'm gonna bring back Naru-nii. Even if it kills me."

"Two." Another finger was shot down, "I'm gonna become the Hokage, and I'm gonna be the best-est, good-est and most awesome-est one there was, is and ever will be!"

One after the other, she knocked two of them down until she was just left with one finger.

"And I'm gonna take away all that hate inside of you some day and make you trust me and become my friend because if you're gonna be stuck inside of me by yourself, you might as well have some fun doing it. Because... Well, everything is better with a friend." Well, there were a few exceptions. Such as sex. She really didn't want Sasuke to be there with her cheering her on or something when she got her long awaited sexy-time with Naru-nii in the future. Would've made one hell of an awkward story to tell if anyone ever asked. "I won't give up. I'll try and try again and again even if I fail a thousand times. I promise you that much." The conviction in her words and the words themselves truly were astounding, and even they seemed to have gotten through to the monster fox whose breathing had stilled noticeably. Then he blasted a wave of hot air at Natsumi, who stood her ground.

"**Tch... I hate people who can't live up to their words."** While worded as a threat, Natsumi could clearly hear the message hidden behind his words.

_**'Show me. Show me you can do them-** and I'll best friend forever!'_

Okay. Maybe it wasn't exactly phrased like that, especially at the ending but Natsumi was certain that it was something along those lines.

"Then I'll show you wrong you giant furball! I'll show anyone who doubts me that I can do it!" Natsumi jabbed a thumb into her chest, proudly proclaiming to the tailed beast before her, "I'm Namikaze-Uzumaki Natsumi, the soon-to-be first female Hokage of Konoha, and I never go back on my promises!"

After a moment of staring deeply into each other's eyes, Natsumi dropped her arm and smiled at the fox.

"Well, I'd love to stay and chat some more but I've got to go and train some more. Hinata-chan said she was gonna help me out." She scratched her nose in a bashful manner, "And sticking around after that high-note would be pretty anti-climatic. So I'll see you again later, 'kay?"

The Kyuubi didn't respond to her question since he knew she was going to come back regardless if or not he wanted to see her. With a grumble, she was waved away and vanished from the seal before the beast finally closed his eyes yet again after a long hard stare at where she was standing before.

_'**We shall see, child... We shall see.'**_

* * *

_With Naruto and Hidan_

* * *

Having walked some distance away from the store and turning into a woodland path that would take them through the borders of the Land of Wind and the secretive Amegakure and towards Ishigakure no Sato (Village Hidden in Stones), which was very close to the land that hated his father, and thereby him due to relation, because of the absolute decimation he had brought upon their forces at the end of the Third Shinobi World War. That meant that his bright blonde hair was a dead giveaway to his heritage. Perhaps hiding his hair while in their territory was a good idea.

Flanked on their right and left by trees, the pair walked side by side as always in relative silence. But after a few moments Hidan suddenly snapped her head backwards when something in the corner of her peripheral caught her attention. But as soon as she turned back to look at it, it was gone.

Looking back forwards, she jabbed Naruto in the side softly. "Did you see that?" The low whisper over the faint sounds of the forests in the early afternoon took hold of Naruto's attention almost immediately since Hidan was actually trying to be discreet.

"What?" The blonde didn't tilt his head to face her and continued to walk at the same pace since he quickly picked up on Hidan's attempt at being sneaky.

"I swear under Jashin-sama's name that I just saw a crocodile or some shit on a tree branch. Or at least the mouth of a crocodile. Not going crazy... I think, but it was hard to tell from the corner or my eye."

"They're call jaws, Hidan." Then Naruto took a big sweeping glance to his side and back to check up on her words, "And I don't see anything."

"No shit." She frowned, somewhat perturbed from being watched by what she thought was a crocodile. The trees seemed to dance and she was very much aware of the deep chirping of the crickets that were hidden in the bushes and grass that lined the side of the beaten dirt road. Even the chirping of birds grew ominously loud to the point where they were silently wondering to themselves on how they had not noticed just how loud everything was. "It like... It like moved or something."

"Moved? Well, Crocodiles are known to climb trees, but I doubt that they live anywhere here. And even if it was a crocodile, there's little we have to really worry about. They're not very dangerous or scary to shinobi." Never had it been documented that crocodiles ever killed healthy and fit shinobi, and even if that happened it would have been one embarrassing death. Something like that would have been mocked for generations.

"Crocodiles? Not dangerous or scary?" Hidan scoffed, "Yeah, says you. You obviously don't know about that one crocodile who took over some desert country and nearly blew it to kingdom come. Not only that but the crocodile had a giant gold hook as one of his hands and was a pirate. Oh don't give me that look. I haven't even told you about that part with the rubber monkey. Shit sounded pretty crazy."

Naruto regarded her with a strange look, unsure if she was drugged out from whatever had been laced in her desserts earlier on or if she was being serious. It was hard to tell sometimes when it came to his lovely companion.

"Desert country? You mean Suna?"

"Nah. I think it was like in some place else that's way out there. Like really waaaaaay out there." She nodded to herself, "Read about it in a newspaper some seagull with a postman's hat gave to me."

"Now I really can't tell if you're joking or not. This sounds really ridiculous, especially the part with you reading. But you're quite convincing. And that's quite scary to me."

"Regardless, even if it was a crocodile it's gone no-_ GAH! WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!_" From the ground in front of them, a pair of large green jaws sprouted which opened to show the half-grinning face that was split down the middle in white and black. Naruto's big blue eyes widened marginally at the sight. Partially because the man had just emerged from the ground like a ghost, but mainly because of what he wore. His shoulders that were sticking right out of the ground were completely covered by a cloak that he wore, proudly donning the insignia of the group that Naruto had been searching for ever since he had made headlines with the blood of the Uchiha Clan.

_"Heeeee~llo~!"_ Zetsu sang happily, seemingly eager at the prospect of meeting new people, "I'm so excited to- Whoa!" Zetsu retracted back into the ground faster than they had expected without a trace, causing Hidan's pike to impale the floor where his head would've been.

"Shit." Hidan pulled back from her throwing stance and sneered as she wiped her bleeding thumb and palm against her robes, "That's the crocodile I saw." Then she frowned, "I didn't think he'd look so freaky up close though. And he could talk and move through the ground too... What a fucking weird ass crocodile."

"I don't think that was a crocodile, Hidan..." Naruto's eyes were already scanning the area for the strange creature. While the thing was undoubtedly from the Akatsuki seeing as how it was garbed in their uniform, there was no telling what it was here for. Perhaps they had somehow angered them after unknowingly foiling one of their missions or operations.

Then, at a safe enough distance, Zetsu re-emerged from a rather thin branch. The act left both stunned since it was an impossible feat for him to have accomplished. While Naruto was shocked into silence, Hidan was gaping openly.

"Dude! You can do magic tricks? Ha-hah!" Then her mouth split into a grin, "I love magic!"

It was just physically impossible to keep the rest of his body hidden! It just was!

"It isn't magic, you silly little girl... We just use this ability to move through terrain." This time the cloak he wore was much more prominent since he had revealed his upper body all the way to his elbows.

"Hidan." Naruto muttered sternly to bring her back to the situation at hand, "Focus."

"Oh, right. My b." Taking a minute to properly observe his outfit, Hidan suddenly realised that his outfit matched up with the one Naruto had described. "Isn't that the outfit of the group you told me about? Red clouds on black cloaks? Whassit called? Archipelago? Agenda? Acapella?" Hidan muttered to a nodding Naruto.

He had revealed to her the nature of such a group a while back when she had asked if they had a specific goal in mind. Wandering around with Naruto and raising hell wherever they went was fun and all but Naruto was the type of person that always seemed to have an objective in mind. Be it 'get stronger' or 'search for the Akatsuki', he was the polar opposite of Hidan, who was perfectly content with doing whatever life threw her way.

"It's _Akatsuki_, and yes... It should be..." Naruto didn't look at Hidan as he spoke, too focused on staring at the plant man to even do so, "But I've never seen a person like that appear in the Bingo Book before." He would have definitely remembered reading about someone like that unique man. If this was just how secretive Akatsuki was then there was no telling just who else was part of their group.

"To the immortal pair of shinobi, Hidan and Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto, the Akatsuki humbly extends their hands to you fortunate folks!" Although Hidan had immediately tried to kill him upon his appearance just a few moments ago, the eccentric plant man did not seem to be fazed in the least. Perhaps it was a common trend that he had gotten used to already.

"Just who are you?"

"Why I'm the top-secret secretive spy of the Akatsuki. I'll tell you my name after you two have joined but what I can tell you is that I've been waaa~tching you two ever since news broke of your actions against Konoha. Oops. Maybe I shouldn't have said that..." He covered his mouth up comically after informing the pair, who merely frowned at the news. They weren't exactly fans of being spied upon. "Oh but don't worry. I only watched you two for a few hours a week, nothing much happened really."

"And what if we say no to joining?" Naruto just had to test the waters. Were they desperately in need of members or were they looking to just increase their might. He didn't know just how many members Akatsuki was comprised of but there surely couldn't have been too many since S-ranked shinobi were hard to come by these days.

"Yeah!" Hidan cheered, parroting Naruto without much thought, "What if we say no?" Would they outright reject the fact that the two of them weren't joining and force them into doing so or did they have so many people that losing two S-ranked shinobi was no sweat off their back? "We don't even know the first thing about the Akatsuchi and you want us to join? What if the organisation's just a bunch of chumps and we're the only good ones there, huh?"

The sides of Zetsu's mouth drooped as he slowly lost his grin and all that was left of it after was a display of his teeth that showed his disappointment. "Well... That just won't do. But that's fine." Shaking his head sadly, he appeared as though he didn't want it to come to this. "Perhaps a display of our power is in order. You can decide joining us after we wrestle you into submission." Uh-oh. That didn't sound too good. "But rest assured right now, immortal or not, you're gonna have a bad time." And with that he immediately sank back into the branch and vanished again.

Hidan turned her head to the side and squinted at the dust cloud that was slowly rising through the trees and heading towards them from right side of the road.

"You know... That doesn't look too good." Hidan pointed the ominous cloud that had stopped in it's place, slowly dissipating into the air as the wind blew it away. Whatever it was, it must've stopped to have done something. Naruto and Hidan were fully prepared for anything that came their way-

_"Shinra Tensei (Almighty Push)!"_

Swathes of trees were immediately flattened, spreading out in a cone shape that started from where the dust cloud had ended. They collapsed over each other like dominoes, hundreds of trees that had seen decades of fighting and bloodshed, literal history in the making, taken down in an instant from an unknown power. Pure annihilation. No matter how many it knocked down it never lost a bit of momentum, charging forth at the surprised duo.

_"Aw hell-"_ Hidan and Naruto raised their arms and braced for impact. The visible repulsive force that slammed into them had not been any form of Fuuton Jutsu. It was purely what it was. Just raw force that sent the two flying off into the other side of the woods. Barrelling through trees, branches, bushes and ultimately crashing somewhere far away, the two were temporarily and understandably down and out for the moment.

* * *

At the very start of the massive wave of destruction, the orange haired man started to slowly walk over the destruction he had caused, the hundreds of toppled trees, towards the pair he had blasted away.

_"Yare, yare..."_ Zetsu's head rose from the trunk of one of the many fallen trees, assessing the massive amounts of damage caused by the leader of the Akatsuki. He clicked his tongue repeatedly, as if chiding his leader. "That was a little too much don't you think, Leader-sama?"

Pain didn't spare the spy so much as a glance and continued forwards at his slow but confident gait, his piercing-studded face stoic as ever and his purple ringed eyes calm and unwavering in his decisions.

"A show of my power will break their morale and encourage them to join me. I do not wish to drag this out for long." It wouldn't take long before his abilities came back after that grand show of power. More than likely, by the time the two recovered, he would have already regained them.

* * *

Hidan's eyes slowly opened slowly and fluttered as she got adjusted to the rays of light that were currently beaming down into her eyes. She lay motionless in a deep trench she had dug out with her own body, her body shrouded in a thin layer of dirt, leaves, gravel, rocks and splinters from when she had been lifted off of her feet and tossed into the forest like a fucking shuriken.

Her slicked back hair was now an absolute mess, with her purple clip coming off when she had been blasted away. Shit. She hoped she hadn't lost it. The silver strands tickled her nose and in the process of doing so blocked out most of her vision.

"Ughhhh..." She tried to pull herself out of her own grave, but noticed that her arm had gotten horribly mangled in the midst of forcefully breaking through a number of tough objects to stop her fall. "Fuck. That fucking hurts." She lowered her arm and quickly concentrated on it to heal. "Ugh. This sucks dicks. Big dicks."

Meanwhile, not too far away from her, Naruto had already begun to pick himself off from the floor. Pushing his palms against the fresh dirt that had been brought to the surface by the massive power that plowed right through them, Naruto pushed himself off of the ground and stood shakily. His scarf had been lost and his clothes in tatters, Hidan was somewhere but judging from the groans and vulgarities she was spouting she was more than likely fine, but he didn't really care about all that as of now.

What he was focused on was the orange haired man that was approaching him at a gait that could be called relaxed yet held an aura that was undoubtedly dominating. Face pierced with studs that looked to be quite intimidating and painful the man seemed polite and calm to a certain degree (he **did **just blasted them away with some unknown force). Bright orange hair that was spiked up in the same manner as his was quite eye-grabbing even at a long distance. And on his forehead was something Naruto had not expected. The forehead protector was marked, showing his allegiance towards the mysterious and closed off Amegakure. However there was the noticeable sign of it being scratched horizontally across the logo of the village, deep enough to display that it had been cut badly. Surely that had not been coincidental and must've had a deeper meaning than just a simple scratch.

"Consider our offer again before I have to consider you a loose end, Naruto." His voice was smooth and powerful. It was convincing, cool, collected. It was the voice of a man who knew what he was doing, who had purpose. And it was the tone of a person who knew that, at the end of the day, they were going to be the one to come up on top. Judging from his actions and the decimated landscape, he could clearly back his actions up. Another blast like that at such close range would certainly do far more damage since they had only caught the tail end of it.

And those eyes of his! Just what were they? He had never seen such a Doujutsu before. Sure there were plenty out there, each with their own unique and eccentric abilities, all documented and written down. But over years of extensive research due to his good friend and rival wielding his own pair of Doujutsu, Naruto had never come across eyes such as his save for in an old tome hidden away in some desolate area of the library that had clearly not been touched in quite some time.

Could it have been? The revered and mystical set of eyes that were said to only come once every hundreds of years? Eyes that belonged to the progenitor of chakra himself.

The only ones that were infamous enough to know about was the Sharingan and the Byakugan, and this was said to be on a _tier higher_ than theirs. At the time, Naruto had merely passed it off as a fairy tail since there weren't much details regarding it and no one had been seen with them, but he did remember the simple description of it.

Purple. Multiple rings.

He was facing off against a person who wielded the power of the Sage of the Six Paths... and Naruto felt something stir deep within his gut. He wasn't sure if it was fear, anger or something else entirely. But it seemed to respond to him. Naruto paid it no mind and ignored it, choosing to focus on the man before him instead. Unnerving and unblinking, the ringed eyes just kept staring at him as he closed the distance between them, ultimately stopping a good ten metres away from Naruto.

"Who... Who are you?" Naruto asked, his curiosity overcoming anything else he was feeling.

"I am Pain." The man started to walk forwards once he realised that Naruto didn't seem too keen on fighting any more and stood right in front of him, "Leader of the Akatsuki."

Naruto's sapphire eyes widened considerably. "Leader?" So he was both the leader of the Akatsuki as well as a shinobi, if not, the leader himself of Amegakure. Could such a man be someone else's underling? Definitely not, Naruto felt.

"Aw _shit_!" Hidan's voice came from behind Naruto, having heard their conversation, "Seriously?"

"Indeed." Pain looked back to Naruto after sparing a quick glance to where Hidan was buried in, "I am but one of a handful of members. We may not be many, but we certainly are enough to crush anyone who gets in our way." Naruto didn't like the sound of that, but didn't retort. It wasn't as if he could refute that claim since Pain did crush them quite well. Naruto's intent to fight had been greatly quelled by that jaw-dropping display of power.

"What exactly are your goals?"

"To achieve peace throughout the world." Pain gestured to the sky in a grand manner, throwing both of his hands up and forming a Y shape, "Anything underneath the sky will be under our control." His black cloak billowed gracefully in the wind as he spoke, "We will halt all wars, all conflicts and even the pettiest of arguments! There will be no more unnecessary deaths and fighting." He was so convincing and compelling that Naruto was certain the average person would be utterly enthralled in his voice and words. This was the sort of man that could start legitimate cults and actually had power to back it up. It didn't help that he possessed legendary eyes that were undoubtedly worth literal mountains of gold due to the fabled tales told about it. The amount some people would pay for a set of eyes like those was nothing to sniff at.

"Peace?" Naruto muttered with a hint of disbelief in his voice, "And just how are you planning on executing such an impossible task?" Way too many times had he heard of people trying to bring peace to the world and each time Naruto would answer with a shake of his head. Peace was a fickle thing, a ratty old bridge that could break at a moment's notice. To him, Naruto didn't think that there would ever be peace. But then again, he had never heard such a statement come from a man who had the eyes of the Sage himself.

Pain lowered his arms and merely stared at him before he extended his hand out, offering it to Naruto.

"It is not entirely impossible. Join us, both you and your partner, and you will find out. We intend on ushering in a new age of peace in our own way. And with you two by our side, the first part of that goal is now one step closer towards completion." The ringed eyes peered deeply into Naruto's blue ones as if the leader of the Akatsuki were trying to take a peek into his soul. To unravel just who Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto was and to find out all his dirty little secrets. "Join us. And you can be part of something greater in this wretched world."

"Hidan?" Naruto tilted his head to the side and asked aloud while he continuously kept eye-contact with the man. While he didn't seem intent on attacking them any further, Naruto still couldn't trust him enough to look away.

"Accept it, Naruto. I don't really think we'd win against this fucker anyway." She responded whilst still in the ground. Pain did not seem to be nonplussed by the insult. He agreed. He came to the logical conclusion that he would not be able to win against someone like Pain as he was right now. Not even with his new technique could he do it. On the bright side, not having to fight saved him the trouble of crippling his arm.

Naruto stared at the outstretched hand for a brief moment before he accepted it.

There would be no going back now. He and Hidan were now part of the Akatsuki.

* * *

Naruto and a somewhat dirty Hidan were kneeling next to each other, both carving a deep but straight gouge across their forehead protectors and showing that they had rescinded their allegiances with their old homes. Standing back up and placing it back to where they had once been, Hidan's around her neck and Naruto back into his backpack since he didn't carry it on him.

"Excellent." Pain said and by his side, Zetsu rose out from the ground. Reaching into his cloak, the strange plant man pulled out two sets of Akatsuki robes and handed them over to Naruto, who accepted them. "You two will be working together in a two man cell just like the rest of the Akatsuki. Zetsu will inform you of the location you will be heading to. You will be meeting up with another member." Reaching into his own cloak, Pain pulled out a pair of rings and held them out in his palm. Both immortals reached out and plucked them out of the man's hands. Naruto noted that the same piercings he used for his face were embedded into his arm. Surely that had to hurt quite a bit since it went right through his arm. He wisely chose not to comment on that and shelved the information away should it come in handy in the future.

He also noticed that his fingernails were painted a deep vermilion. How odd. Hopefully nail polish wasn't mandatory.

Naruto took the one that was red in colour with the marking of 'scarlet' on it and wore it on his right ring finger while Hidan took the one that was orange with the number 'three' etched into it, wearing hers on her left middle finger.

Turning on his heel, Pain began to walk away from the partially destroyed woods and through the felled forest that had been devastated by his single attack. "I will be returning to Amegakure for now." Glancing over his shoulder his last words to them sent a chill down Naruto's spine for reasons he didn't understand.

_"Welcome to the Akatsuki."_

Zetsu and Hidan began to converse and Naruto tuned them out in favour of staring at Pain's slowly diminishing form in the distance. Feeling his throat go dry, Naruto swallowed audibly. Truly, he had just met a monster in the flesh. They weren't strong enough. Not even close. A single attack from the leader of the Akatsuki had knocked them onto their asses like they were a bunch of inexperienced kids. Sense had been hammered into them and it told them of their status on the food chain. Truth be told, they weren't anything special in the hierarchy that was the shinobi world. Sure they were up there but there were still tonnes of people out there who were stronger than them by leaps and bounds, and plenty more who could become stronger in time. But if they had learned anything today, it was that they were still capable of growing even more.

But he had to wonder just how anyone was supposed to stop a man like him. He was still going to try his best to spy and take in as much information as he could on the Akatsuki, but now he was much more weary. One day that information would prove useful, and with that he was brought back to reality when Hidan nudged him gently.

_"-ruto..._ Oi, Naruto. Are ya listenin'?"

"Huh?"

"Gosh. Pay attention will you? We'll be going through Ishigakure (Village Hidden in Stones) and into Iwa soon. That's where we'll be meeting the other Akatsuki guy for whatever the fuck we're doing there."

"Yeah... Sorry." Naruto apologised, scratching his whiskered cheeks. "I was just distracted."

Zetsu grinned and Hidan groaned and grimaced, clutching her fixed arm. Honestly, she wanted nothing more than to stab that guy in the heart, well in her own heart technically speaking. But even she knew when she would be beat. As of now she was nowhere near being able to even touch him with her fingertip in the ladder that was the food chain.

"Cheer up." She punched him gently in the shoulder, "We'll just have to get stronger, won't we?" A cheeky grin was splayed out across her face and even Naruto had to smile.

_"Awww~!"_ Zetsu cooed, "I told you-** Shut up. We're leaving."** Zetsu began to sink into the floor and vanished soon after, leaving the two of them alone.

"So..." Hidan held the cloaks out and stared at it. She had to admit that they had a pretty cool design, "Shall we?"

"Excuse me?"

"Duh. Change clothes?" She gestured to their worn out clothing with one hand in a graceful manner, and Naruto finally noted that their clothes truly were in a greater state of disarray than he had originally thought. In fact, he could even see slight bits of Hidan's pale flesh from the holes that had been torn through her robes.

"Right... Right... I'll just turn around." Naruto did as he said and allowed Hidan to change. Hidan turned around as well, her back facing his and quickly removed her robes. Naruto felt beads of sweat roll down the sides of his forehead and struggled with his inner demons not to look.

"Don't peek," She said with a teasing giggle, "I'd hate to poke your eyes out." Naruto noticed Hidan's dual sided attitude when it came to teasing and being teased. She liked being the one doing the teasing, being bold and confident in her actions. But when she wasn't in control such as when he was she was shy and and easily flustered.

_'Don't look. Don't look. Don't- well, what's the worst that could happen if you look. A little peek never hurt anyone.'_ Let it be known that Naruto had been influenced at least slightly by his Godfather. Unable to fight his urges any longer, he began tilting his head over his shoulder, he caught sight of Hidan's alabaster coloured back, the black strap that looped over her shoulders as well as the hook and closure that went across her upper back. He could see signs of their training paying off since there was a clear indication of muscle forming. And he saw that she still wore the same lacy black bra she bought all that time ago, washing it every two days or so.

Personal hygiene was hard to keep up when you were criminals on the run. That and it was never Hidan's forte.

But gods, did it compliment her.

His eyes went lower while Hidan was struggling to unzip her cloak. It was hard to tell with her thick robes constantly on, but Hidan was also quite blessed when it came to her posterior. He hadn't gotten to see it when they had been in Wave, but now that he got a decent look at it, Naruto found it hard to look away. It wasn't grossly large to the point where he would worry if she had some kind of health problem, but it was fit, looked to be quite firm and had nice amount of roundness to it. Wrapped up nicely in a set of matching black undies, they appealed to his tastes greatly.

Ugh. And he didn't even want to get started on those pretty, pretty legs of hers. For someone that was considerably shorter than him, she managed to make them look very long. He wasn't ashamed to admit that he was a fan of them. He didn't exactly have a particular dream woman in mind, liking just about anything, but Natsumi and Hidan were by far his favourites. He hoped he didn't sound like some kind of creep.

Hidan finally managed to get her cloak over her head before turning around. "How do I look?" By the time she had done so, Naruto had already been looking back in front. Feinting as though he hadn't peeked at all, Naruto turned slowly and admired the newly garbed Hidan.

Her Akatsuki cloak fit her perfectly and much like her old clothes, she had a revealing amount of cleavage, zipping her zip down to the middle of her breasts. Just like before, her necklace and newly marred forehead protector hung loosely around her neck and between the valley of her breasts.

"So how do I look?" She had her hands on her hips, cocking her waist to the side slightly as she posed for Naruto before sticking a finger out and stopping him. "No, don't tell me. Your silence speaks volumes about just how stunning I am."

"You do." Naruto chuckled as he removed his worn and torn shirt, tossing it aside and revealing the fairly muscled body that lay underneath. As he attempted to wear his cloak as well, Hidan studied the image given to her and etched it into her brain. She too made the comparison -like he had done- to when she had last seen him topless, during the training session they had all they way back at the arena. Now compared to then was a fairly decent contrast. His shoulders had gotten a little larger and the accents of his muscles were now much more obvious, highlighting just how intense the workout he made for himself was. And without his mask on, it was just an added bonus.

This was eye candy at it's finest. And while she might not have liked candy all that much, this was one she could savour greatly.

_"Mmmm... Delicious, delicious candy..."_ She drooled slightly as she continued to stare. Naruto poked his head through the collar of his cloak and blinked.

"You say something?" Now donning the colours of the criminal organisation they were -mostly Naruto. She was just tagging along like usual- looking for, Naruto did look quite intimidating, cool and handsome. Lacking his mask, Naruto's partially stitched mouth fulfilled both criteria while the shaggy head of blonde hair -that had been trimmed recently- and sparkling sapphire eyes added to the 'handsome' factor.

"Huh? Oh nothing. Just said that you look pretty damn cool." She looked off to the side and noticed something purple buried in the dirt underneath a felled trunk. "Hey! I found my clip. Awesome." She ran over to it and plucked it out of the dirt. A gentle blow sent the dirt that covered it right off. Fingers raking through her hair, she pushed the thick silver mane backwards, only for a part of it to pop right back out. Grabbing the stray bang, she pinned it to the side and clipped it in place.

"Hey, I don't suppose you know which direction Ishigakure is, right?"

"No." Naruto responded, frowning, "We'll just have to ask around-" Then he noticed Hidan was ignoring him in favour of spinning around with her index finger pointed outwards like she were acting as the hands of a clock.

_"Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, slit the neck of a ho..." _Naruto frowned. He was certain that that wasn't how the rhyme went. Regardless, she stopped and pointed in a random direction, "There! Ishigakure's there!" Wit hthat she began to prance off in that direction without even so much as a further thought. While this might have annoyed him once, her strange habits had already grown on him. Still though, while it was amusing he didn't need to anger Pain just yet by failing something as simple as meeting up with another member.

"Hidan! Wait, where are you going?!"

"Ishigakure! Where else?"

"You can't just guess the location of it!"

"No shit! Zetsu told me where it was. I was just fucking with you!" With a cackle, she made off at an even faster pace and left Naruto in the dust. With an annoyed sigh, he quickly chased after his partner, hopping over and on trunks and branches.

Okay. Maybe her antics hadn't entirely grown on him yet.

* * *

Thanks for reading. Review if you'd like!

Originally I was going to have Kisame fight the two of them in an actual battle, but I decided not to use him. Instead, I used Pain to invite them into the Akatsuki since it just felt better than what I had written for Kisame.

**Omake: Mandatory Nail Polish.**

* * *

In a nail salon somewhere, the duo who were dressed in their Akatsuki attire sat in separate chairs that were an arm's length away from each other. Hidan sat at the front of the shop, in front of the register, waiting while the owner of the shop tended to Naruto's toes. Sandals tossed somewhere else in the shop, her newly painted feet were propped up onto the counter of the shop and she was wearing a pair of fashionable sunglasses despite being indoors.

He would've thought more about where she had gotten them from but was distracted by the nimble aged hands that were busy filing away at his toes at an incredible rate. The nail file that was currently in the hands of the hunched old lady, who was over by his feet, was being repeatedly dragged over his nails and carving them into perfect semicircles. His fingers had already fallen victim to being cut and filed properly and all that was left were his toes. Just like Hidan, his sandals had been taken off yet unlike her, he had set them aside neatly instead of opting to toss them willy-nilly around the shop.

"This is still very strange..." Naruto stared at his toes which had been separated by some sort of soft material, preventing them from touching each other, "...I'm still not sure I like it." Hidan spared him a chuckle.

"It's called a mani-pedi, Naruto." He grimaced as the old woman ran the hard nail file over the nails of his toes to shave them properly. Hidan pushed her sunglasses up with a newly coloured finger and leaned back into her chair. Shooting a smirk at how uncomfortable he looked, she tried to reassure him. "Don't worry. You'll come out of this feeling fresh and new."

"How do you even know that I will?" Naruto grunted, "It's just my fingers and nails."

"I've been getting them for my toes." Only her toes though. She needed her sharp fingernails to cut her hand in order to summon her pikes and swords, so shaving them down was a no-no for her. Wiggling her painted toes, she lowered her sunglasses and propped her feet back up onto the table. "And they feel great."

"Is that where all of our budget has gone? That and food... for you?"

She gave him a chagrined smile at being caught, "Yes?"

Naruto shook his head in exasperation. Whatever. It wasn't as if they truly needed funds all that much. He did wish Hidan spent some restraint in spending money, which she did as easily as she breathed air.

"Remind me again why I'm doing this?"

"Apparently it's mandatory for all Akatsuki members to get their nails done and painted. I might not like that Pain guy, but I can appreciate this downtime."

"What down time?" Naruto raised a golden eyebrow at her, "We always had downtime before joining the Akatsuki." It was true. Joining the Akatsuki just meant that they were restrained and with knowledge that Zetsu could drop in on them at any given time, it was even worse.

Hidan kept quiet for a moment before his words settled into her. Hidan bared her teeth at him to hide her shame. "Ah shut up!" Before they could argue any further, the elderly woman showed him a sheet of paper with a smorgasbord of colours printed out onto it.

"Which colour would you like?" He really didn't want to pick one. As a shinobi who was wanted for multiple crimes, he wasn't comfortable with allowing strangers into his guard. Nor did he particularly like the sensation of people handling his toes and fingers in such a manner. But he trusted Hidan. With a sigh, Naruto closed his eyes and randomly jabbed at the paper to pick one, having no interest in willingly choosing for himself.

"I agree, young man. That's a lovely colour on you. Very bold." Naruto opened his eyes and saw that he had selected a bright hot pink as his choice of nail polish and Hidan glanced over before busting a gut from the sudden laughter.

"_HAHAHAHA!_ Oh Jashin-sama! I agree wholeheartedly. You'd look so pretty." Her finger reached under her glasses and wiped an unseen tear away. "That's great! This is great. I love that we spend our time bonding like this. Have I told you just how much I love you?"

"I already know." Naruto rolled his eye with a small smirk and chose a new colour. Hidan looked away with an indignant blush on her cheeks while Naruto began stopping the old woman who was rummaging for the bright pink nail polish. Instead of the hot pink, he picked a colour that was at least decent looking on him. Properly choosing this time, a sickly purple had been chosen since he supposed it would look much more intimidating on him than pink would.

As they settled back into silence, Naruto noted just how fast the woman could paint his nails and had already begun working on his fingers. Years if not decades of painting nails had given her the ability to paint incredibly quickly and that was quite impressive to Naruto. A very useful tool for someone like he who used Fuuinjutsu on a regular basis. She clearly knew what she was doing since she painted perfectly within the nails and never coated it twice, using the perfect amount of ink to complete her task. And in such a fast time too.

"I don't suppose you know Fuuinjutsu, do you Baa-chan?"

The old lady looked up to him in confusion as she finished his last nail, "Excuse me?"

"Pfft." Hidan covered her mouth but failed to hide her snort.

"Um, never mind." Well. Perhaps while he was waiting for his nails to dry, he could learn a thing or two from such a master and inquire about how she painted so fast and well. While it was for something as insignificant as nail painting, there was a chance that practical application could be applied to it for writing seals even faster.


End file.
